A Note on Doing Less

I actually don’t know how to cleverly start this blog post, but here’s the gist: I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. I’m tired, cranky, overwhelmed, and over it and I’ve taken all of this out on the people I love the most. This isn’t necessarily the first time it’s happened to me in my life. I remember feeling something like this when I was in the 6th grade and trying to do dance class and play softball in the spring. But especially in the past two years as I’ve really ramped up my business, I’ve gotten in the horrible habit of saying yes to EVERYTHING. And now, I’m paying for it…big time.

Now is when I tell you what I’m doing to help out my situation, and it’s all thanks to the book “Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time Management for Busy Moms” by Kate Northrup (note: you do not have to be a mom or a woman to reap the benefits).

To be honest, I don’t think I’ve had this problem in my adult life. I’ve always done what I wanted to do and didn’t do what I didn’t want to do and I’ve never felt guilty about it. It’s one thing I love about myself. But owning your own business is a whole different ball game. You learn quickly how to generate revenue or you fail. And for me, that meant saying yes to every opportunity and every prospective client that came my way. I said yes to working on the weekends, yes to working evenings, yes to answering emails at all hours of the day. Whereas I used to be really good about boundaries, suddenly I found myself running around at all hours of the day and night trying to please everyone.

I’ve been following Kate Northrup for a long time and I love her approach to just about everything. So when she started Origin a few years back I signed up immediately. And when she started her podcast with her husband I listened. And when she wrote a book about doing less I bought it. On Audible of course because I didn’t have time to sit down and read a physical book (insert eyeroll here).

Of course it took me a few weeks to actually listen to it, but when I did I immediately got clarity on what I needed to say no to in my life, what I needed to prioritize, and learned some pretty remarkable tips on how to manage my energy (not my time) to get more out of my life – both in my business and personal life.

I quit my job at the farmer’s market selling baked goods because it was starting to really stress me out. I started saying no to opportunities presented to me if I thought it might be too much to handle from a time management perspective. I’ve been getting better about saying no to working outside of normal business hours (aside from births of course). All of these little tweaks have already lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. Next, I’m going to sit down and reprioritize my daily, weekly, monthly activities to determine what I need to let go of and what I need to double down on. I’m going to work with my monthly cycle to maximize my energy in order to get said priorities handled on time and without much stress. And most of all, I’m going to allow myself to rest when my body says I need to and not feel guilty about it.

Basically, I’m taking a different approach to my business and life in order to maintain my sanity and still feel like my business is running successfully. After reading this book and being a part of the Origin community, I now feel like I have the tools to do so. Can’t wait to re-evaluate my process in 6 months to see the difference it makes!

xo,
Katelyn