Life

A notebook will help you sleep better at night

Today I want to share how a notebook will help you sleep better at night. It’s not a particular or fancy notebook. The idea is to have a notebook next to your nightstand. I know you’re thinking, “How is that going to make me feel better? How is that going to make me sleep better?” Don’t worry! I’ll share how.

Use your notebook to help you sleep better at night during your wind-down routine

If you’re like me, you have a lot going on in your mind. There are many things you are trying to keep track of. Or your brain is constantly trying to remind you of things you have to do.

Keep your notebook by your bed

One thing that has really helped me settle my brain at night is to have a notebook or a journal next to my bed. As part of my wind-down routine every night, I use that notebook to write down a couple of different things.

These different things fall into three categories:

• Brain dump
• Things I’m grateful for
• What I like about myself

To sleep better at night, do a brain dump

First, I like to do a brain dump. And  what that means is anything in my brain that keeps popping up, causing some stress or anxiety, I will write down.

Some days I write down a couple of sentences about my day. What I enjoyed about it or what I want to remember as something special that happened. Or I’ll write down important things I need to remember.

To sleep better at night, write down three things you are grateful for

Then I will write down things I am grateful for. Typically I write down three things I am grateful for that day.

Gratitude is such an important thing. It gives you a lot of perspective. People who practice gratitude experience less anxiety and stress. Practicing gratitude is good for your blood pressure because it reminds you that even when things aren’t great, we always have things to be grateful for.

Maybe you think that in order to be grateful, you have to be grateful for big, life-changing things. I feel the opposite though. When you’re grateful for the little things, it just makes life so much better.

Some days it might be a struggle, especially if you’ve had a stressful day. But gratitude doesn’t have to be about big things.  Remember, there is always something to be grateful for… even if it’s just for coffee that day!

Write down three things you like about yourself

After doing a brain dump and writing down things I am grateful for, I then go on to write down three things I like about myself.

I got this idea from Corinne Crabtree. She runs the No BS Weight Loss program. And she would have us write down three things that we’d like about ourselves.

When I first started doing this, it was so hard. I think as women, we just don’t like ourselves very much. We make ourselves the enemy all the time.

Make finding things to like about yourself a daily practice

So I made this a practice to do every day. And what’s interesting is the longer I did it, the easier it was to find things I like about myself. I found that my confidence increased tremendously.

This practice just makes you feel better about yourself. It makes you realize that there are things to love about you. You are a well-loved person, even when you’re not feeling it and it’s as good for your soul.

To help sleep better at night, keep your notebook on your nightstand

When you wake up in the middle of the night because something woke you up, have a little light. And whatever you’re thinking about, write that down in your notebook next to your bed. When you clear your mind again, that will make it easier for you to go back to sleep.

I’d love to know how you’re doing this. Do you have a notebook you use before you go to bed? How is that working for you? Let me know in the comments below.

And if you’re not using this practice every day, then try it for a week and let me know how it goes. Did you sleep better at night?

The most important thing I’ve learned from meditation

As a mom to a preschooler, a wife, and a business owner, I am just trying to get all the things done just like you. Today I wanted to talk about the most important thing I’ve learned from meditation.

Now I will be completely honest with you. I am by no means an expert at this. The reason they call it a meditation practice is because you’re constantly trying to get better. But one thing that is taught me is that it is always okay to begin again.

The idea with meditation is that you’re trying to stay focused. You’re trying to calm your mind. Especially right now, there’s just so much going on and your mind is constantly trying to go in 95 different directions. If you’ve never done meditation before, one of the things that you try to do is that when you realize that you are thinking about something else, is go back to whatever your focal point is.

Go back to your focal point

If you find your mind wandering off, you go back to that focal point. Most times it’s your breathing. And you begin again to refocus.

As you go about your daily life, and you get distracted. You need to refocus. Think about what you should be doing. What should you be focused on?

The most important thing I learned from meditation is to begin again

So you begin again. And this also applies to when you fail at something in life. I have students that approach me and say, “You know what? I’m worried about taking the QuickBooks ProAdvisor exam. What if I fail?” I just tell them, “If you fail, you have three attempts to take the exam. And then if you fail on a third, try, you get locked out for 60 days. Then after 60 days, you can take the exam again.”

But I still have students that will get so worried about failure. And that’s okay.  Our mantra in Bookkeeper Training School is if you fail the exam, (which only about 10% of our students do. Because we do a pretty good job preparing them for the exam.) it’s not a big deal. In the meantime, you’re going to keep going with the course, set up all your marketing. And you’re going to start finding clients and letting them know that you are working on your QuickBooks certification.

Failure is an opportunity to learn

If you fail at something, you keep on going. Keep building your business. Get those first clients. And then when 60 days roll around, you’re just going to begin again.

Maybe you feel that failure is the end. But I believe that failure is a learning opportunity for you to say, “How can I improve next time so that I can win?”

I’ve had several online ventures fail.  But let me tell you, if I had the mentality that failure is the end and had never seen it as an opportunity to learn, we wouldn’t have Bookkeeper Training School. We wouldn’t have over a thousand women in Bookkeeper Training School, learning, growing, helping their clients, and getting certified. Because I dared to begin again, Bookkeeper Training School exists.

Begin again

So when you get distracted, unfocused, and don’t hit the benchmarks. Don’t think that things are over. Instead, think about it as an opportunity to begin again.  Even yesterday, last week, last month, or last year, didn’t go the way that you want it to go, sit down and get refocused.

Make sure that it’s something you still want to do. And then if it’s still your goal and dream…. begin again.

Sometimes that means starting where you left off. And sometimes that means going back to the beginning and starting over. But no matter what that looks like for you, I never want you to forget that you always have the opportunity to begin again.

However you’re feeling today, know that at any moment during your day, you can stop. Take a deep breath and begin again.

Make sure that sign up for our email list because we’ve got some cool stuff coming in December. And I cannot wait for you to hear about it.  Let me know in the comments if you are beginning again. Or join the Small Biz Mama Community on Facebook and let us know.

Update your schedule for fall and the holidays

Kids have been in school for a while now. And maybe you are having trouble getting into the groove of fall. I totally get that. This is my first fall in Florida and the temperature is still 85 degrees. It’s gorgeous outside. And I’m having a hard time adjusting to the fact that it’s fall. That’s why today I’m going to share why you should update your schedule for fall and the holiday. I’ll also show you tips on how to do just that.

Looking at the calendar right now can be a bit overwhelming. It’s almost Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  You need to get going. You are feeling stuck and probably having trouble getting into the groove. If that is the case, your schedule needs a reality check.  You are probably still operating on a summer schedule.

Three things that you need to update your schedule for fall and holidays

I want to give you three things to think about with your schedule so that you can have a schedule that reflects your reality. This is something I do multiple times a year. Typically, I’ll do this in the fall, right after the holiday, and one in the summer.

You should at least do this twice a year. Once for when your kids go back to school. And then once for summer. You might also want to think about doing this when your kids are on longer breaks, such as Christmas and Spring break.

When you update your schedule you need to manage expectations

When you update your schedule you need to manage expectations.  The first thing you need to do is be realistic about the time that you have. You can do this in Excel, a piece of paper or in Google.

What you will do is block off the time that is taken in your day. Even if you think every day is different, there are certain things in your day that are the same every single day. If your kids are in school, the time you pick up and drop off your kids is the same every single day. If your kids are in activities, typically those are the same every day.

Anchors in your day

You don’t give enough credit to how stable your schedule really is.  There are many things that are the same every single day. We call those things the anchors in your day.  For me the my anchor during the day is my lunchtime. Lunchtime is pretty much the same time every single day within like 15 minutes.

Avoid this biggest mistake when you update your schedule

Your anchor might be the pickup or drop off time for school. Any time between your anchors you can block off for other things.  Make sure though that you don’t forget to account for drive time though. This is probably the biggest mistake you can make when you are planning your schedule. And then you wonder why you are feeling rushed and overwhelmed. So make sure you block off the time when you need to leave so you can stop work, get in the car, and go pick up your kids.

This will help you feel so much more relaxed because you’ve built some breathing room in your schedule.  So you need to make sure you are being realistic about what’s already on your schedule.

How to make your weekly planning easier

If you use Google calendar you can make all your anchors and standing appointments recurring.  This way a lot of your week is already planned out before you even sit down and look at the week. Make those pickup/ drop off appointments recurring, as well as any other activities.

The beauty of recurring activities on your digital calendar is that it’s easy to move. So make sure that you’re realistic about the time you actually have. And put in everything that you can think of that has to be in your calendar.

Update your schedule for holidays

Now what I want you to do is I want you to go back and I want you to put in time for the holidays. You are less productive during the holidays. So if you need to have to shop online, make sure you put that in your calendar.  If you don’t put it on your schedule it will not get done.

Think about if you are going grocery shopping, or taking days off. You need to decide if you are going to work the day before Thanksgiving. Are you going to work black Friday? Are you going to work that week? Because you need to start blocking this time off so that you know what time you actually have.Now think about what your plans for the December holidays are.  What are you going to do to celebrate?  Are you going to be doing something special. Your kids are on vacation if they are in school, so don’t forget that. Be realistic about how you are going to spend the holidays and what time you actually have.

Look at your schedule for the rest of the year

Now look at your calendar for the rest of the year. And start blocking things off. For us, the week between Christmas and New Year is pretty crazy around here. First there is Christmas. Then the 27th is my son Erik’s and my birthday. We also typically do a promotion for Bookkeeper Training School that week. It is insane and crazy. But I love it!

So in order for us to truly enjoy the holidays and our birthday, we need to have everything done before that week.  And the only thing I am doing during that busy week is going live and answering questions.

Make sure when you look at updating your schedule for the rest of the year, that you are realistic about the time you are taking off so you can make sure you have everything done and ready before that time.  Doing this is incredibly motivating and will help you get stuff done.

Know your why when you update your schedule

When you know your why and you update your schedule, you’re planning you’re time off. Once you’re realistic about your schedule, and when you see that time off and what’s going on during the holidays. Use that to motivate yourself. To determine what are the most important things that you need to get done so that you can have that family time. And you can have that holiday time. Also, make sure you include build some rest time during the holidays. Because the holidays can be stressful. Get that rest time on your schedule!

Think about your client work. What do you need to get done? Do you need to get any marketing done for your business. Are you doing any promotions during the holidays. Get all those things on your schedule right now, so you can start running.

I’m a big believer in what gets scheduled gets done. So if you are not getting the things that you want to get done, try scheduling them.

Deep work

We have this running joke in Bookkeeper Training School. I tell people that if you don’t like putting working on your calendar, then put down deep work. For me deep work is when all my notifications on my phone and computer are off. I’m focused in on what I’m doing, whether it’s recording, generating content, or whatever.

So that’s what deep work mean. Everything is off. Don’t bother Kristin she’s in the zone. If you don’t want to put deep work on your calendar than put “Meeting with Kristin” on there. So that whether you’re working on Bookkeeper Training School, building your business, whatever else you need to work on. Put on the calendar that you are meeting with me to block off that time on your calendar.

I would love to see thousands of women all over the country that have “Meeting with Kristin” on their calendar. So if you do that, take a picture and tag me @allkristiningram on your posts.  That will work for both Instagram and Facebook.

Make sure you have all the most important tasks on your calendar. Get everything on your schedule. Be realistic about your time and what you need to do. And let’s finish this year strong.

Work you business around your life

If you notice, I’m having your schedule your life first. And then you are working your business around that.  If you don’t do that, your admin junk will fill all the time you give it.

One of my goals is to be in my office as little as possible.  And what I find is that if I give myself two hours or if I give myself six hours, I’m probably going to get the same amount of work done.  You might wonder how that is possible. But the longer I’m in my office, the less productive I get. But if I’m in can short targeting my work in two or three hour bursts, I can get a lot done.

Reward yourself for your hard work

I typically do my weekly review and planning on Sunday. But this Sunday we want to go to Disney. I’m recording the podcast on a Friday.  So I need to get as much done as I can so that I can enjoy Sunday.  When I’m thinking about what the rewards are, I get more done.

If you’re not rewarding yourself for all your hard work, you need to get that on your schedule. Whether it’s quality family time, something for you, rest, reading, or whatever you need to recharge and reward yourself for the hard work you’re doing.

Please do that. I want to see that for you because doing all this hard work is not worth it if you’re not seeing any rewards for it. And they don’t have to be monetary rewards. They can be going to the library and getting the book you want to read, take a long, hot shower, go for a walk with your kids, or ask someone to watch you kids so you can take a walk by yourself. But find something that is for you and make sure that you put that on your schedule as well.So be realistic about the time that you have you. Be realistic about the and the times you need off. Determine the most important tasks and get those on your schedule right now. Because what gets scheduled gets done.

Your life is not a balancing act

I often get asked how I balance two businesses, my home, and all the things, and still have a life.  To tell the truth, it’s not about balance, because balance means everything is equal.  But that is not how it works. So today, I want to talk to you a little bit about what balance should look like since your life is not a balancing act.

What I like to think about is that it’s not a balancing act, it’s more a juggling act. You’re going to have many balls up in the air, some are going to fall, some you will put down and others you will pick up. Some balls will move slowly and others will move twice as fast.  It’s going to go back and forth, and others will stay in one hand.  So saying that your life is not a balancing act, but more of a juggling act just means that you need to determine what is most important to you.

Your life is not a balancing act, it’s determining what is most important to you

I was listening to “Deep Work” by Cal Newport and he was talking about the top couple of things that are important to you.  Now it’s not 85 things, because that’s what you do as a woman. You think about 85 different things that we need to do to be the mom, the wife, the worker or the business owner, or whatever it is that you’re doing.

Four things that are important to me

So I came up with four things that are important to me. These four things are my mission-critical things. These aren’t in any particular order.

1. Serving my customers. This is incredibly important to me
2. Bringing in a new customer. So I can keep the business going and growing
3. Building memories with my family. Going to the beach, the park, swimming in the pool, having dinner together, reading and snuggling on Saturday morning, and all the things that exude love.
4. Becoming the person I want to be.

What is going to get you closer to what’s important to you?

As you think about the four things that are important to you, and you work and juggling all the things you need to do. Think about what things will get you closer to what’s most important to you. So when you have to decide between two different actions, which one is going to be the one that brings you closer to those four things. And if you have to eliminate things, run them through those four things.

For example, say you’re having a really busy night. And you’re trying to decide if you are going to pick up food somewhere or if you’re going to make dinner.  Say your child needs some attention and wants to play a game with you.  So you need to decide if you’re going to spend an hour in the kitchen, or if you’re going to pick something up or make something quick.  Or you can pull something out of the freezer and throw it in the oven. Spending more time with your kid will help with building memories as a family.

Your life is not a balancing act. Acknowledge what’s important.

Very often you aren’t willing to acknowledge what those important things are for you and you’re not willing to trade-off. And what happens is because you’re not willing to make the conscious decision, you are making a decision. And so when you chose to be anal about how clean your bathroom or house is, instead of spending time with your family. You are deciding on what’s important to you.

So when you put things through the lens of what’s important to you, then it’s easy to know which balls you will be juggling. You get to decide what you are going to do with each ball. Are you going to add it to the ones you already have? Or are you going to put it down?  Figure out what you need to let go of to make something happen.

Your life is not a balancing act, but you do have a mission in life

Take a moment and write down three of four things that are important to your mission in life.  Maybe you feel like you don’t have a mission. You’re a wife and a mom, and a business owner.

That is what I am, and my mission is to be a better me.  Building memories with my family makes me a better wife and mom. And serving my customers or getting new customers makes me a better businesswoman. There you go. Better me, better wife and mom, better businesswoman Those are my three things and that’s my mission. Because this is what’s important to me.

So I’d love you to think about what’s important for you. What are those things? Now, you’re going to want to make a list of like 700 things. And I thought that my faith is really important to me. I want to be a better follower. But I didn’t put that down, because becoming a better person, becoming the person I want to be, includes my spiritual journey.  My health journey is in there.

What to do when you have conflicting things

What happens when I have to choose between serving my customers and building memories with my family? Typically when I’m in that position, I’ll see if there is a way that I can do both.  What else can I put down so that I can reschedule?

Typically, I’m not spending all day serving my customers and building memories with my family. Those aren’t the only two things going on. There’s laundry and dishes and admin stuff. And working with my team, getting groceries, meal planning, showering, exercising, and all these things.

For instance, I know I spend way too much time on my phone.  And I’m trying to get better at that. But I know if I spent less time on my phone, I’d have more time to serve my customers and more time to build memories with my family.

Look through the lens of what’s important to you

So you need to look at all the 900 other things that you’re doing and see what else you might be able to trim. Look through the lens of what’s important to you to figure out how you can eliminate more of the trivial stuff so that you can focus on the four things that are really okay. For me, that means looking at my task list and my calendar, and really zeroing in on where I’m spending my time. And being conscious of what I say yes to.

I’d love to know what your four things are. If you’re in the Small Biz Mama community on Facebook or if you’re in Bookkeeper Training School and the Empower Bookkeeper Network, share with us your three or four things are.

It doesn’t have to be four things, it could be two. But don’t do more than four.  This means that you’re going to have to think about what are the most important things. Don’t get very particular though.

To whittle down your list, keep asking why is this important to me. For example, why is laundry important? Because my family is important. Why is family important? Because I want them to feel loved. And I want to feel loved. So maybe that’s what’s important to you. It’s giving and receiving love.

I want to encourage you to stop striving for balance. And measure everything that you do against those items that are most important to you.

Your Ideal Life in the New Reality

In this second post on Designing your post-COVID reality, I’m going to share about your ideal life and the new reality. In the last episode, I talked a little bit about spending time being intentional post-COVID. About how you want your life, business, and family to look like. Today I’m going to focus on life and what your ideal life could look like in this new reality.

I’m going to share what I’m planning to keep and what I’m planning to let go of. If you haven’t read the post for Episode 67, go back and take a look at that. In that post, I share a framework and four questions to ask yourself, as you are trying to figure out what you want to keep in your life.

Four questions to ask yourself when thinking about your ideal life in the new reality

You might be worried that things are going to go back to the way they were before. However, you need to be intentional about making sure that it doesn’t.

So think about the four questions asked in the previous post:

• What did you love pre-COVID?
• What did you love during COVID?
•  What did you hate pre-COVID?
•  and What did you hate during COVID?

Think about what you what your life to look like in this new reality.

My ideal life in the new reality

I keep thinking about post-COVID, but in reality, I don’t think there will be such a thing as post-COVID. I don’t think it will go away completely, especially with the vaccination rates as we have them.   think  And so I think that it’s going to be in the background. Hopefully, at some point, it’ll just become the flu.

Jeff and I, and even Erik, are natural explorers. We like to do new things. Which was hard to do during COVID. And now that we live in Florida, there are so many things that we want to explore and do.

Exploring in a safe way

And so trying to do that with COVID as a backdrop, we need to think about how to explore safely. For us, when the numbers start to spike up, we’re wearing masks again in the grocery store. Because we want to keep Erik and us safe. And even though we are personally vaccinated, we’re still wearing masks. I liked not getting sick during COVID. So wearing masks is something that is going to stick around for us. I missed hanging out with people.

Grocery Shopping

I was never a big fan of shopping and so I love curbside pickup and grocery delivery. So I’m going to try and do that as much as I can.

House cleaning

One thing that I missed during COVID was having somebody come in and clean our house. I only do it once every two weeks and then we keep up in between. But that was something that as soon as we felt safe enough to do again, we hired someone to come clean our house twice a month.

It’s not as expensive as you think. If you’re self-employed, especially if you are a bookkeeper, you can pick up one extra client a month and pay for somebody to come in once every two weeks. The scale of what you would pay versus the time you would save makes it worth it.

It takes Jeff and me about four hours to clean our house. And frankly, I am not very good at it.  But these two ladies come in twice a month and do a phenomenal job. They do stuff we don’t do, like all the sliding glass doors and all that stuff. So just the amount of time that it frees up for the two of us is remarkable.

My ideal life in the new reality means getting healthier

I made the decision that I wanted to get healthier.  So I’ve walked a lot. I’m watching what I’m eating. And when I look at my numbers, I’m probably in the best shape I’ve been in since maybe college. I’m pretty happy about that. So Jeff and I are being intentional about getting into better shape.

So working on being healthier is something that is going to stay. When I journal every day, I always write down that I like being fit and active in Florida. I love what it feels like to have the energy to move around. To be able to do the things I want to do and have the energy to do them. Being able to run around with Erik and get on the floor, or in the pool, is great.

Make sure you take time to celebrate when thinking of your ideal life in the new reality

Some people look at me and think I’ve got a long way to go in being healthier. But I’ve come a long way. And I think that we need to celebrate how far are we’ve come. Don’t wait to celebrate until you get to the end. Your working on it, and you’ve made it part of the way that you’ve come from somewhere. So take some time to celebrate that piece.  If you haven’t sat down for a while and acknowledge how far you’ve come, you need to do that.

Your kids and your ideal life in the new reality

Erik and us during the new reality

For us, many things did not change when COVID hit. Erik was home with us. We were working from home. Things got busier, but they didn’t change dramatically. For many of you, it was a dramatic change. But we just had to make minor tweaks.

Erik wanted to be around little kids. So when we move to Florida, we enrolled him in a summer camp at a Montessori school.  He loves it. And we noticed that he’s picking up more around the house. One thing that was lacking during COVID was that socialization with other kids. And as we have settled in here, having him go to school was helpful.

I still want to homeschool. But I don’t know what that’s going to look like. I need to find a group so Erik can be around kids more. Erik is so extroverted. And he needs that high level of engagement and socialization.

Be willing to pivot

One thing that we learned during this time is that you have to be willing to pivot. You have to be willing to change the plan.  So acknowledge that you can pivot and that you should pivot when you need to.

I’d love to know what are some things that you want to take with you into your life in the future and what are some things that you don’t? You have the opportunity now to leave those things behind.

Take the opportunity to say, “No, I’m not doing that anymore because of COVID.” So if you hate saying no, you now have the opportunity to say it. Let me know how you’re going to use your COVID card to create the ideal life in the new reality.

Some things might be aspirational. Get out your journals and write those down.  That kind of thinking will serve you well as you move forward.

Stay tuned for next week’s post. I’m going to talk about your ideal business and the new reality. I’m going to do a little bit of forecasting in that post. And talk about some things that I think are going to permanently change. And some things that I think are going to go back to “normal.”

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Designing your Post-COVID Reality

Today I’m going to start a series about designing your post-COVID reality. You need to be intentional about how you do this.  I will walk you through an exercise that will help you with this.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be sharing how to apply this to your life, your business, and your parenting. Hopefully, you’ll come along with me for the next couple of weeks.

As you’re designing your post-COVID reality, don’t get caught up in thinking you need to do everything

By now, you are getting caught up in everything reopening. You feel like you are needing and wanting to do all things. However, you’re not taking a moment to pause and think if you want to do this. You tend to lose sight of what you can and cannot control.

Today I saw a post on Facebook and this woman was asking for advice on what she should sign up her eight-year old son for.  She already had him signed up for martial arts, but did not think that was enough.  She also mentioned that her husband’s family had a history of obesity and she didn’t want her son to be just sitting around.

But what was interesting is that in the whole thread there was no discussion about if you should do more activities. Or if there were things that could be done from home. It was like you have to put your kids in activities. Often, you believe that you have to do all things.  But take a step back and think about if you have to do all this.

Think about what you can let go of when designing your post-COVID reality

The first thing that you should learn from COVID is to figure out if you have to do all the things that you are doing.  Are there things that you can let go of in this process? A lot of times you think you have no control over these things. Because that is that way you have always done them.

If you learn nothing else from COVID, realize that you have become very adaptable. There are a lot of things that you were doing pre-COVID that you either didn’t like to do or didn’t want to do.  You do not have to bring this with you in the post-COVID era.

Exercise for designing your post-COVID reality

I want you to do this exercise with me.  Look at the grid below.

Get out a piece of paper and draw this grid.  You can watch this on YouTube as I do this. You are going to use this grid to create your post-COVID reality. This grid will help give you clarity. And when you are done, you can put it in your planner and carry it around with you for a little bit.

Answer each question in each quadrant

On your grid write down the following in each quadrant:

1. What did you love pre-COVID?
2. Write down what you loved during COVID.
3. What did you hate pre-COVID, and
4. Write down what you hated during COVID.

Examples

Here are some examples for me.

• Pre-COVID: I loved getting together with family and friends.
• During COVID: I loved grocery delivery and curbside pickup.
• Pre-COVID: I hated meeting just for the sake of meeting.
• During COVID: I hated being over-scheduled. I don’t like the isolation. And I hated being indoors in the cold weather in Connecticut and not being able to go out because there was nowhere to go.

What do you love and hate?

Now, spend five minutes here and there as you’re going through your day. Think about what you love and what you hate as you’re changing seasons.  What did you love about fall pre-COVID? What did hate about the fall pre-COVID?

I’m talking to a lot of parents that are not liking the idea that school will be back in session. Others are glad their kids are going back live.  Some of you might not yet know if your kids are going back to school live or not.  And parents that are homeschooling, have missed the homeschooling groups during COVID.

As you are filling out your grid, figure out if you can keep out things that you hate.  And if it’s not possible to get rid of all of them, figure out how you can minimize them.

What can you get rid of when designing your post-COVID reality?

One of the things I love about Greg McKeown and his book Essentialism, is it’s all about keeping the essential things in your life and trying to shed the rest. So, what can you do to get rid of things you just don’t like in your life? Are there things you can change and pivot so that you enjoy them more?

Many moms are dreading fall. The thought of all the scheduling for sports and activities has them overwhelmed. If that’s you, you need to see how you can simplify things.

Or you feel like you lose your business when the kids go back to school. Because you’re constantly running around in the afternoons. Or you feel like you’ve got to get everything done for your business while your kids are at school. How can you slow things down a little bit?

How can you create an environment where you don’t have to shut down your business at one o’clock in the afternoon unless you want to. In my house, we have quiet time in the afternoons. I have dedicated time with Erik in the evenings where we do music and other kinds of quiet activities. Such as puzzles, and things to get him to wind down so we can get him to bed at a reasonable time. Now mind you, it doesn’t always work.

How can you use this information in designing your post-COVID reality?

How can you use this information to create a new reality for yourself? Incorporate the things that you love and get rid of things that you don’t love, or that aren’t serving you well. Your life and your family’s life should be filled with the things that are serving you well. And don’t just assume that your kids want to do 800 activities and be out of the house.

If you have kids, I want to encourage you to do this activity with them as well.   You don’t have to use the word hate though. You can ask what did they not like pre-COVID and during COVID.

A lot of times you forget to check in with your kids and you just assume that it’s your job alone to make all the decisions. Allow your kids to have some input. Ultimately you’re the final decision-maker.

Be very intentional

If you’re in our Small Biz Mama group on Facebook, I’d love to see you share your grid. We’re going to be asking some of these questions this week in the group to have you contribute. Doing this in the group will be a good inspiration.

Be very intentional about what you want the rest of this year to look like.  Don’t just rush in and open the flood gates. Or go back to doing exactly what you were doing before.  In everything that I’m reading and all the polls I’ve seen, people don’t want things to go back to the way they were. Yet we’re seeing that people’s activities do not mirror their intentions.

So be very intentional when thinking about what you want your fall to look like. Make this life what you want it to be.

And remember you have more control than you think, Focus your energy on the things you can control, and don’t stress over the things you can’t.

How to schedule more fun

Today I want to share a little bit about how to schedule more fun this season. It’s a lot easier than you think. Many of you are thinking about summer. Your kids are getting out of school soon if they aren’t out already.  And you are looking to add more fun into your summer.

I know every single year I have these grand plans that we’re going to do more than we did last year. I’m not going to work as much or try to catch up around the house. We’re going to have more fun. And then what happens is September comes and all I can think is. “Where did the summer go. I missed it again!”

So I came up with this really simple technique to schedule more fun into your summers and enjoy your life. The great thing is you can do this for the summer, for June or July, or you can do it a week at a time. It depends on how much you like planning, and how much change you’re trying to generate. But you can do this at any time.

To schedule more fun you need a weekly schedule

You can just do this for your weekly schedule. This is how I do my ideal week when I’m doing the exercise.

I redo my ideal week, anytime there’s a shift in my life or my schedule. So I was telling the folks in Bookkeeper Training School on one of our coaching calls, that I redo my schedule three times a year. I would do my summer schedule, a fall schedule, and a spring schedule.

You might just be in a funk and you need to change things up since what you have been doing isn’t working for you anymore. Change it, change your schedule around.

How do you change your schedule around to have more fun?

So how you do change your schedule around? I want you to start with a blank calendar. If you don’t have a blank calendar, you can go to Passion Planner and print out a template.  You can also print out some beautiful planners if you’re looking for a planner. These planners are undated.

Maybe you think you can’t start any plan because it’s not January, or it’s not the beginning of a quarter. That’s the beauty of undated planners like the Passion Planner or Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner, is that you can start anytime.

Start with a blank calendar

You need to start with a blank calendar. And the reason you need to start with a blank calendar is that you need places to write all this down. If you do not put things on your calendar, you’re not going to get them done. It’s that simple.

We’ve seen in Bookkeeper Training School, that those that go through, finish the course, get clients and do all the things, are the ones that put on their calendar when they were going to work in their business. And part of working their business was getting to the course. So if you want things to be important, you have to schedule them.

Now, if you want, you can also do this digitally. You can clear out your Google calendar except for the must-do’s. And we’re going to talk about those in a second, but you need something blank to start with. Because the problem is you pile all this stuff onto your calendars.

To schedule more fun you need to know what your must-do’s are

One of the things that you need to do, if you’re going to schedule more fun this season is you need to figure out what your must-do’s are and what would be nice to do’s are. You need to separate your must-do’s from what you think you must do.

Now that you’ve got a blank calendar, open up your existing calendar. In your blank calendar, put in anything that is not moveable. And that is anything that is a must-do. It is set in stone and has a concrete time that it must be done. So if you have any work commitments, existing meetings, church, an existing doctor’s appointments, or anything like that, put those in there.

Do not add the things you think you must do. At this point, make sure you do not add in anything flexible. For example, my work schedule is pretty flexible because Jeff and I are both home with Erik. So I have a lot of flexibility when I work. Jeff and I could switch when we’re working.

One of the things with living in Florida is the beaches get busy on the weekends. And so if we want to go to the beach, we can go to the beach during the week. Despite people thinking that I have to be on my desk during the week.  I don’t.  I can work at my desk on Saturdays instead and go to the beach on Wednesday.

Your fun day does not have to be on the weekend

That would be a good option.  You can make Wednesday a fun day. Or maybe you make it Monday. If you wanted to take Sunday and Monday off instead, that’d be okay. But you know, you don’t have to work Monday through Friday.

So because work is flexible, do not put that on your calendar. I want it to be things that are hard and appointments that can not move.

What about your kids’ sports schedule? Or their art classes? At this point, I want you to sit down and talk to your kids. Ask them if they want to do all of those activities? Because I think a lot of times you confuse your must do’s with, your think you must do.

I think a lot of times you pack your kids’ schedules because all good moms do that. But you’re not giving your kids just time to be kids. That’s one thing that I’m conscious about when I’m scheduling stuff. Because I love having the flexibility to just say, you know what, today we’re going to go to the beach or today we’re going to sit by the pool or play at home.

I want to encourage your to listen to your kids.  Sometimes they won’t verbalize that they’re exhausted or burnt out. But you will see it in their behavior.  Many times your kids think that they must do things because you want them to. But if you talk to them and allow them to make the decision, you might find that they don’t want to do that thing.

Now it’s time to schedule more fun

Once you’ve scheduled all your must-do’s, work commitments, church, existing appointments, and you’ve assessed the activities that you’re signed up for. Now it’s time to schedule some fun. And I know many of you are wondering about the work blocks, workouts, and all the other things yet.  You’re scheduling fun next because you desperately need some fun. Once you get to the stage where you’re not burnt out and exhausted, and you feel a little bit more refreshed, then you can peel back some of the fun time and add other things. 

To schedule more fun you need to know what is fun for you

So one thing that is important for you to be able to schedule in fun, is that you need to know what you think is fun. Greg McKeown in his book, “Effortless,” talks about how he and his wife each did a list of 20 things that they like to do. 20 things that bring them joy.

And I love this concept because a lot of times you’re going to schedule in fun. And then you maybe you and your spouse don’t have the same idea, or you and your kids don’t have the same idea of fun. It’s a really good idea to have a list for each one of you of what you think is fun. And then also maybe have a family list of what is fun for the family to do.

You need to schedule some more mama fun 

Now here’s the thing you’re going to need family fun time, and you’re going to need mama fun time. Okay. And so sometimes mama fun time looks like just reading a book on your own in peace and quiet. It might be going for a walk on your own, going shopping, getting a massage, swimming, or taking a bath. But it has to be something that is just for you without your kids.

Try and schedule at least 30 minutes of fun just for you every day. It could be as simple as taking 30 minutes first thing in the morning to reading a book or maybe at the end of the day.

And then schedule fun things with your kids multiple times a week. Okay. That could be as simple as hanging out, watching a movie, going to the park together on the way home from school. There are lots of different things you can do together, so schedule something that you can do together as a family.

Now schedule anything else remaining

Then once you’ve got your must-do’s and you’ve scheduled in some fun now add in anything else that’s remaining. This is another part where you’re going to have to make some compromises. Maybe you can’t spend 10 hours a week cleaning your house, or three hours a night to make dinner. Or maybe you’re not going to have five hours a day to work. 

So then what happens? If you’re not intentional about what you want, you will fill the time you have. 

Jeff and I have gotten pretty good at cleaning in small spurts. We’ve also gotten much better about trying to clean up after ourselves as we’re going through the day. And we found that that has greatly reduced the amount of time of day cleaning our house.

I will do batch cooking to make freezer meals, and then utilize my Crock-Pot or Air Fryer.  If I make a plan for what we’re going to eat based on what we’re doing every day, that is very helpful. And I’ve also found that when I have less time to work, I get more done.

Sometimes you need to compromise to schedule more fun

I would encourage you to compromise and see what you can get done in less time so that you can schedule more fun.

And if you need help with this check out the Mother of all Time Course. Sign-up for this course where I’ll teach you to save at least 10 hours a week on just things that you’re currently doing. And so I give you some of the tips that we use in our home to help get things done faster.

I can’t wait to see your schedules and how you’re scheduling fun. Let us know how are you scheduling fun? You can email us at podcast@smallbizmama.com. Or you can go to the Small Biz Mama Community on Facebook.

What is essential in your life?

As I was outside doing my walk, I was thinking about what I wanted to talk to you about. This is something that is so important. And it has been my guiding focus for, I would say probably the last, maybe five years. When I started to do this, my business took off, my life got to a place where I am happy with it. And it’s the concept of figuring out what is your essentials list. Figuring out what is essential in your life.

I got this concept after reading the book “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown.  He also has a podcast and his audiobook is really good too!  The concept of essentialism, is basically the disciplined pursuit of less. I think so often you’re trying to figure out how to add more.

Determine what is essential in your life

I’ve been asked how I fit everything in.  The problem is not about fitting everything in, it’s about determining what your must do’s are. I would love to get to my desk by 7:30 am. And I found out that it’s not been happening, because one of my essentials that I feel I have to do every day is go for a walk. What are your essentials and how are you going to fit them in to your schedule?

One of my essentials is to go for a walk. Another one of my essentials is being there when Erik wakes up from his nap. Because when Erik wakes up from his nap until dinner time, or until the time I teach my courses, that’s mommy and Erik time. I absolutely love that time. That’s not the only time I see him during the day, but that’s Erik and mommy time. We both know that and we both enjoy that time.

Going to bed at a reasonable time is another one of my essentials.  So my top three essentials are my sleep, my walk and my Erik time.  And when I see that my house is a mess, or that I have so much work to do, I sit there and thing if it’s something that is going to impede my sleep, my walk or my Erik time.  Cleaning the house is not more important than those three things for me. Which is why I think it’s so important to figure out what the most important things are in your life and structure your life around that. Because if we don’t, then our kids, spouse, and health all fall by the wayside.

Why determining what is essential in your life is important 

It was interesting. As I was listening to Essentialism, one of the things they talked about in the book is to imagine that you are a stove with four burners. And your four burners are:

• family
• friends
• health
• work (could be volunteer work, your mission, etc)

Now if you want to be successful, you can only have three. If you want to be really successful, you can only have two. And so what are they?

As I think about my essential, and about how I want my days to look like, the thing that I notice is that my work is becoming less and less of my day. Because I really want to nurture my family, and friend relationships. I also want to nurture my health.

When I talk about health, I’m talking about physical, mental, and spiritual health. Because I think that all of those arenas are important. And so when I sit down to think, and look at my schedule for the week, I need to make sure that I’m seeing all four things on my schedule. And they might not be in proportion.  I would say the biggest parts of my week are family and work right now. But I I’m always checking in to make sure that my health is on there, through my walks, good eating, reading, and exercising my mind.  And then I check to see if my friends are on there.

How to add the essentials in your life to your schedule

I want you to think about what things are essential for you. And then I want you to look at your schedule and put those things on there. If you want something just for you, how are you going to do that?  What is that going to look like? Because if it’s not on your schedule, it’s not going to happen.

You need to make sure to check in with that schedule on a regular basis.

I’d love to know what are your essential things and how are you going to put those on your schedule?  I know you have a lot going on, but once you start thinking about your essentials and getting them on your schedule, then it’s easier to figure out how to make those other things on your plate more manageable.

One thing we have implemented is the Fly Lady way of house cleaning.  She has a whole system of how to clean your house and keep it clean in small bursts throughout the day.

Many times you are looking for things to be perfect, but that means that nothing ends up being anywhere near perfect because we’re having a breakdown. As women, we tend to struggle with perfectionism on a regular basis.  And so it’s important for you to sit down, step back a little and do something, even if it’s not perfect. At least it’s done. I can’t remember who said it, but “perfectionism is the enemy of done.”

Once you’ve figured out the essentials in your life, you can figure out how to make the rest work

So once you figure out what’s essential, you can then figure out how to make the rest work.  If you hate making dinner, look into quick Crock-Pot meals, or frozen dinners that you just pop into your Instapot or Ninja Foodi. There’s all sorts of options. 

If you haven’t gone through and done my Mother of All Time Course yet go through and do that. 

We can’t keep doing it the way that we’re doing it. Because you’re just going to go nuts. You’re under a lot of stress, and there’s a tremendous amount of stuff you have to get done.  If you  don’t start thinking about the most essential things, and the most important things to manage in your lives, you won’t ever feel you’re getting anything done.  Know that it’s not a balance. Those essential things are not going to be equal.

How knowing the essentials in your life help set priorities

But you have to figure it out, because if you don’t know what’s essential in your life, then you think everything is essential.  And you try to give the same priority to everything that comes on your plate and it causes it anxiety and depression. Because when you think that everything is important, you’re constantly going and you’re constantly worried. And you’re constantly in a state of almost panic. You can’t be like that. Your families need you.

I hope that when you make that essential list that you are on it. When you fly, they always say put on your own oxygen mask first before you help anybody else. And so if you’re not taking care of you, you can’t take care of anybody else.

Let me know what your essentials are in the comments. 

What’s filling your jar?

I am so excited that you’re here. Welcome to May. This month we are going to talk all about “Bringing Back the Fun.” However, before we can do that, we need to talk about what’s filling your jar. May you’re wondering what in the world I am talking about when I ask what is filling your jar.

There’s this story and I don’t know if it really happened or not… There’s this professor who had a jar, some rocks, pebbles and sand. He filled the jar with rocks and asked his students if the jar was full.  The students said, “Yes, the jar is full.” Then, the professor took the pebbles and poured them into the jar.  He asked, “Is the jar full? And they said, “Oh yes. Now the jar is full.” The professor then took sand and put sand in, shook the jar, filling the jar with sand and then said, “Now the jar is full.” However, if you reverse that by putting the sand in first and then try to put the rocks, the rocks wouldn’t fit.

What rocks, pebbles, and sand are filling your jar?

In this analogy the rocks are the important things in your life. These are the top areas of your life, spirituality, family, your mission, health, or anything else that is important to you.

The pebbles are your hobbies and all those things that you do to make yourself happy and surround yourself with joy.

And then the sand is all the other stuff that fills up your lives. Things like Netflix, social media, and email.

Distinguish what are rocks, pebbles, and sand in your life

Many times we have a really hard time distinguishing between rocks, pebbles and sand. And ultimately what happens is we fill our lives with sand. There is then no room for the rocks. Or a lot of times is you have some of the rocks, but a lot of sand and there’s no pebbles.  And I really believe that the pebbles are the things that make life fun.

Maybe you feel like you don’t have time for hobbies. Or things that aren’t traditionally hobbies have become hobbies for you, such as binge-watching Netflix.

Many times you have things backwards. You don’t have time to take care of your health, but you have time to watch 50 episodes on Netflix.

Are you happy with what’s filling your jar?

Here’s ultimately the thing, if you are happy in your life with what’s filling your jar, then go at it. Have a blast. But I know from talking to a lot of you that you are not happy with what is filling your jar. And so here’s what I want you to start to think about this summer.As we’re going into the summer and things are starting to open up again, I really want you to think about what you want to fill your jar. Because right now you may not feel this way, but right now your jar is empty.  And you have the ability to determine what to put in that jar.

Determine what you will be filling your jar with

You get to determine what will be your rocks, pebbles and sand.  When I look at sand, I think of it as the stuff that gunks up your shoes.  And all those things that you unconsciously spend your time on that you really wish you didn’t. Such as playing those games on your phone, Facebook and Netflix.

What do you want in your life?

And so as we go into this summer and things start to reopen, I want you to think about what you want in your life. What do you want in jar? Because right now you have to decide if you want your life to back to the way it was pre-COVID, or do you want it to look more like it did during? Or maybe you want something completely different?

For Jeff and I, we decided that we’re going to move to Florida. We made the decision that we didn’t want to go back to pre-COVID. But we wanted to craft a different life. And so we decided that we’re going to literally dump out the jar. We are going to very methodically figure out what’s going to go back in. And so for me, the things that I wanted in the jar is a healthier lifestyle, more time with Erik and Jeff, to not be stuck inside in the winter, and just enjoy life.

So I gave my notice at the university back in September, and I really dove in to Bookkeeper Training School. I simplified my firm, and hired someone to help me with tax season this year.

Last week we closed on a house in Florida. We’re down here. We sold our house in Connecticut. And my job looks a lot different as I have not watched TV in a couple of weeks, I’m swimming at night, and I’m walking first thing in the morning. I’m listening to audio books and I’m working on Bookkeeper Training School.

What do you want to be filling your jar with?

I would encourage you right now to start asking yourself what you want in your jar. And I know a lot of you would say, that you can’t change much because your kids do this or that.  Or you’ve got this or that activity.  The problem is that I think you sometime believe that you have very little control over your life.

You have turned over control of your life to the schedule, and the clock, and the activities.  So if you’re in the cycle that you feel that things are the way they are, they don’t have to be. You have choice. Ultimately you’re the parent, and you can determine how many and which activities your kids will do. Or maybe they don’t do any activities this season.  Maybe this season you’re going to stay home, or travel, or do whatever. I just want you to realize that there is more freedom in your schedule, and in your jar than you are giving credit for.

When filling your jar, you need to track what you do

And if you don’t think so, what I’d like you to do for the next week is to actually track what you do. Use a calendar, a timer on your phone, reflect on things multiple times a day. But think about how much time you’ve been on Facebook. How many episodes did you watch on Netflix?  Determine how much time is spend on your zone out activity.

How many hours did you spend driving your kids to activities? When’s the last time you asked your kids if they really want to do those activities? The answer might surprise you.

Greg McKeown was telling a story. Greg McKeown is the author of Essentalism.  He also just came out with a book called Effortless.  It’s based off of the premise of how to make life easier. As he tells the story of the jar in the book, I knew that I needed to talk about it.

What are you spending your time on?

Because ultimately what I’d like you to do is think about what you are spending your time on. Think if these things are rock, pebbles or sand in your life.  What are the really important things, and what are the joyful filler things. Or what is that sand that is gunking up your life?

Spend a week seeing where you are spending your time. And then, if those things aren’t your rocks, figure out if you can eliminate them. What can you trade off? Figure out how you can increase the margin for the rocks in your life.

A lot of times we always seek out the hardest solution to everything or our brain naturally thinks of the hardest solution to everything. And so you don’t move forward with easy things like setting up a trade, like finding a housekeeper that might want a bookkeeper. Think about it. You can just call a whole bunch of housekeepers, say that you’d love to find a  housekeeper who would like to trade cleaning for bookkeeping.

When filling your jar, you need to find solutions

You might hate doing that stuff, but don’t just rule it out because you think it can’t be done.  Pretty much anything is possible. If you’re just willing to sit and find a solution.

It’s funny, a friend of mine reached out to me a couple of days ago and told me about a post that popped up in her Time Hop.  And last year on this day, or maybe it was a couple of days ago, she had asked: “Now that COVID is here, what in your life is going to change going forward? What do you want to do to make things different?

And I posted, I want to move to Florida and have a pool so I can be outside year round. And actually two days prior to it being a year later, we closed on our house down here. But it’s all about saying these are the things that are important to me. That this is where I want to ground my life. And so I am going to make room for those rocks and I’m going to make sure that they make it into the jar.

I’d love to know what’s in your jar. What’s in your ideal jar? You can either comment on this post, or come join the conversation in the Small Biz Mama Community on Facebook.

What’s your minimum viable care?

In this third post in our series “Back to the Basics,” I want to talk about your MVC. What’s MVC? MVC is your minimum viable care.  I know that a lot of you are getting things done. You are chasing the kids.  And trying to get your business going, but you wish you were more productive. Maybe there’s brain fog. Or you’re having trouble focusing and not getting done what you want to get done because you can’t get your brain in gear to do it. That’s where MVC comes. MVC is the minimum viable level of care that you need to do to be productive.

I’m going to tell you what my MVC is and share a little bit more about this concept and invite you to create your list. 

What my minimum viable care is

A lot of people talk about peak performance and wonder how to get to that peak. Most time though, you treat yourself like crap.  You don’t do the things you need to do and you except to be awesome.

I believe that there needs to be this minimum level of care that you need to reach to get to that peak and do better. 

For me to get to that peak, I want lots and lots of energy. But things are nuts right now in my world. We are leaving in a week to move to our new house. It’s also nearing the end of the normal tax deadline. We’re packing up the house. And making sure that we’re spending time with Erik. Also, we’re trying to close on one house and then close on the other house a week later. And things are just nuts right now.

So I need to keep in perspective what are the minimum things that I need to do.  If I don’t do these things then I can’t focus on my desk. I can sit at my desk all day long and not get anything done.

My list of MVC items

I’m going to give you my list of things. Your things might be completely different. Think about are things that help you focus. What are the things that you need to do so that you can get it done?

Here is my list of five things.  I probably could have done more than five, but when I boiled it down and I thought about it, these five things are what help me focus at my desk. This list is the things that if I don’t do, I am not functional.  And I have a hard time sitting at my desk and getting work done.

1. Get 7 hours and 15 minutes of sleep
2. Drink 32 ounces of water per day
3. Take a morning shower and get dressed
4. Create my big-three list for the day
5. Move for 20-30 minutes each day

Get 7 hours and 15 minutes of sleep

I have to get seven and a quarter hours of sleep. That sounds like a really weird number, but that seems that’s my minimum viable hours for sleep. I noticed that when I get seven hours of sleep, I’m okay in the morning. If I get more than that, I feel better. But that seems to be the level that’s the minimum viable. So seven hours and 15 minutes seem to be the sweet spot for me.

Drink 32 ounces of water per day

The next one is I need to drink 32 ounces of water per day. Now I would love to get to 64 oz.  I’ve noticed that 20 oz. is not enough. During the day, I drink other things like coffee and tea. But I’ve noticed that if I get at least 32 ounces of water, I feel good. I feel better if I drink more. But again, this is minimum viable.

I also add magnesium and trace minerals to my water. That helps with my energy levels. And it helps to avoid cramps at night.

Take a morning shower and get dressed

Number three, I have to take a morning shower and get dressed. My brain will not turn on unless I’ve showered and gotten dressed. If I need to be productive for the day I have to take shower and get dressed. After that, I am ready to start my day.

Fill out my planner and have a big-three list for the day

Number four, I need to fill out my planner and I need to have a big-three list for the day. So I’ve talked about this before in other episodes, but essentially I use the Full Focus Planner. I’ve used it for a year now.  This planner is helping me achieve my goals. I love the fact that I put my goals in there for the year, and then I break it down by quarter. And then I break it down by week.

Then every day I’m looking to see if I’m achieving those goals.  This is why every day I set my three most important tasks for the day. It’s important to focus on what are the big three things you need to get done today.

I then fill out my planner. So first of all, I fill in what’s on my schedule for that day. Any meetings, calls, and things that are on my schedule.

If you don’t look at your schedule first and then plan what you want to do that day, a lot of times it’s just not realistic. For me to be productive, I have to fill out this page. I need to know what my schedule looks like. And I need to know what I can get done in the spaces between the items and my schedule, and get those items on the schedule as well. 

Move for 20 to 30 minutes every day

Number five is I have to move for 20 to 30 minutes every day. I just know that if I don’t move, I completely lose all focus. Even if I do three, 10-minute walks, that works just fine. 

I noticed that when I do these walks, I am way more productive in the afternoon.

The first four things on my list will get me through the morning. The thing that pushes me through Erik’s rest time is getting my movement, getting my blood flowing, and getting outside in the fresh air when I can just really helps me to get recentered and refocused for the afternoon. 

During my afternoon break, I spend time with Erik, get him down for his nap, and then add some additional time in the end so that I can go for a walk or get some movement going. 

Sometimes that movement is a fitness video game that I have, that’s called “Ring Fit Adventures. It’s for the switch. I’ll play that. Or I will get on my treadmill. And I’ll watch an episode of something, or I’ll watch a course that I’m taking, or listen to a podcast episode. Getting outside though is the best form of movement for me, because there’s just something about being outside. This just recharges my soul. 

What is your MVC list?

I would love to know what your five minimum viable care items are. If you aren’t sure, sit down and figure out what are the five things you can do.  Maybe these five things become a checklist for you. Or they’re one of your big three items. Maybe your MVC becomes your morning startup routine.  Whatever your MVC is, that becomes a critical part of your day.

Let me know what your MVC is. You can post it in the Small Biz Mama community. The more we can crowdsource this and put our list together, it’s going to help other people. So go to the Small Biz Mama community on Facebook. If you’re not a member, you can just ask to join. Just make sure you fill in the questions. We do not let people in if they do not fill out the questions.

Remember, we are not aiming for perfection. Let’s aim for a little bit better than yesterday, because honestly, that is the best way to go.