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The decisions we circle

The decisions we circle

by | Mar 24, 2026 | Big picture, Business Growth, Mindset, Strategy

The decisions we circle

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is decisions. The ones we’re forced to make, and the ones we circle and quietly avoid.

When we’re building a business, we make decisions all the time. What to write about, what offers to create, what to charge. Many of these get made simply because they have to. We have to write something. We have to offer something. We have to charge something. So we decide and move on.

But then there are the decisions we circle. The ones we revisit over and over. The ones we half-make and then soften. The ones we never fully land on.

Decisions like: what problem we solve and who we solve it for. What our message really is. What our marketing rhythm should look like. Which offer is the core one we’re actually building around.

Instead of deciding, we circle. And when we circle, we tell ourselves we’re being thoughtful, reflective, open. But what I’ve realised lately is this: when we put off decisions, we also put off the outcomes that can only come from holding those decisions over time.

If we don’t decide who specifically we serve, we don’t get to experience what it feels like to truly speak to someone and have them immediately know we’re talking about them. If we don’t decide on our message, we never see what happens when we repeat it long enough to become known for it. If we don’t decide on a rhythm of connection, we never discover what six months of consistency could actually lead to.

We stay busy. We stay reflective. But we don’t give anything long enough to compound.

I see this often with business owners who are no longer beginners. Their work is good. Their offers are solid. They’ve had clients. There’s proof that it works. But the foundations keep shifting because decisions aren’t being held, and without that steadiness, nothing really builds.

It can feel like inconsistency. Like unpredictability. Like something just isn’t clicking. But often it isn’t a capability issue. It’s a commitment issue.

There’s something quietly powerful about deciding and then staying with that decision long enough for it to mature. Long enough for your audience to recognise you. Long enough for relationships to deepen. Long enough for momentum to build.

And maybe that’s the part we underestimate. Not the making of the decision, but the staying with it. The not tweaking it next month. The not softening it when engagement dips. The not rethinking it every time doubt creeps in.

Because decisions only lead to traction when we give them enough time.

So I’m curious. What decision have you been circling lately that might bring more momentum if you simply made it and held it? Feel free to hit reply and let me know. 

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY 

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

 

What If You Could Enjoy More Of Your Business Than You Realise?

What If You Could Enjoy More Of Your Business Than You Realise?

by | Dec 2, 2025 | Mindset

What If You Could Enjoy More Of Your Business Than You Realise?

 

On Thursdays my 8 year old eats lunch at school. On other days he eats with me, but because I have a work commitment on some Thursdays (it’s when I attend my mastermind), Thursday is a day he has lunch at school, while his little brother eats with a close relative.

Recently, when I reminded him of this, he started moaning, as he usually does, about how he didn’t want to eat at school. As the mom guilt started to creep in, I remembered that he’d told me last week that he loved lunchtime at school because he got to play with one of his favourite friends.

So I reminded him. I thought you liked eating lunch at school now because you get to play with your friend? He paused, said yes…but…and seemed to be searching for another reason.

Is it because you don’t like the food? I asked, because that’s something he’s told me before. He paused again and then said, actually I do like the food…

So I asked him: If you like the food and you like playing with your friends, do you think you might actually like eating at school sometimes?

He thought about it, grinned and nodded.

We ended up having a lovely conversation about the fact that there had been things in the past that he didn’t like about eating at school, but that now he actually quite liked it. He’d just got into the habit of feeling negative about it, even though it had become something he enjoyed.

We talked about the importance of paying attention to how we really feel, rather than the story we’ve carried from the past. I have to admit, it was one of those mom moments that leaves you feeling like you might be doing something right.

Do you know yet where I’m going with this?

Later that night, as I reflected on the conversation, I thought about how often our stories about things in our business like launching, sales, content, or outreach shape how we feel about doing them.

How often have you sat down at your desk and inwardly groaned at the idea of writing a piece of content, only to find that when you get into it, you actually enjoy the creativity and the personal expression of it?

Or how often you’ve told yourself that outreach is hard for an introvert like you, and then when you have those moments of pure connection with another like-minded soul, you remember that meaningful connection is precisely what makes you feel alive?

This is a big part of the work I do. I help people reframe how they think about marketing and tap into what they love about the things they often dread. In one of my own favourite articles, I write about this more explicitly: Are you willing to think about marketing differently? Have a read if you can relate.

This is really an invitation to revisit some of the decisions you’ve made about your business, about the things you don’t enjoy, and ask yourself: are there aspects of this I do or could enjoy if I found a way to do it that fits me?

Start by noticing where the story is older than the truth.

DO YOU WANT TO ROOT & RISE IN 2026?

If you’re interested, I’d love you to check out Root & Rise. My two, year long programs in 2026 designed to help you grow your business with clarity, ease, and integrity.

Head to www.carolineleon.com/mastermind for all the details.

The Impact of Letting Myself Be Supported This Year

The Impact of Letting Myself Be Supported This Year

by | Nov 25, 2025 | Mindset, Uncategorized

The Impact of Letting Myself Be Supported This Year

 

This year I did something I have never done before.

I joined a small group mastermind for business owners at a similar level to me.

Now, I realise that some people might find that odd, given that small group masterminds are the bread and butter of my business, but a year or so ago I reached a point in my business journey where I felt stuck.

I probably do not need to tell you what a rollercoaster ride being in business can be, and the last thirteen years of entrepreneurship have had their fair share of ups and downs. But what I experienced over the past couple of years felt new to me. Gone were the highs and lows, and in their place was something else.

After a few dramatic increases in income from 2020 onwards, my annual income eventually levelled out. I had settled into a business model that felt easeful to operate and a marketing system that I could rely on, even when I could not rely on my fluctuating energy levels.

In short, things got really stable. Which felt great… until it did not.

Something I have a hard time admitting is that I had started to feel a bit bored.

Offering the same things year after year and doing marketing the same way began to lose its appeal. I started to miss the creativity of trying new things and seeing what happens. But as I mentioned in a previous letter, making any big changes felt scary. I did not want to break something that was working.

That was when I realised that I needed a shift in perspective. I needed to work with someone further along in business than me, who could show me what I could not see for myself.

As is often the case when we reach the point of being ready for change, the universe put in front of me exactly the kind of support I felt I needed: a small, yearlong group mastermind called Quiet Ambition for established business owners. And even though I was tempted, I had my doubts.

What almost stopped me

What if I disappeared in the group? As a raging introvert and HSP, even though I have no problem leading a group, being a participant has always been more challenging for me, so I have tended to favour one-to-one support.

How much progress would I actually make with only two calls a month? Given that my own yearlong programs have always had weekly calls, I worried about paying more than three times what I charged for half the time I gave.

What if the advice given, or my fellow participants, did not believe in ethical marketing the way I do? The last thing I wanted was to be given advice that I could not implement because it felt out of integrity.

And possibly the biggest concern of all: what if the coach running the group or my fellow participants told me that the only way to get to the next level in business was to put my prices up? I have always prided myself on accessible pricing, and yet the only advice I ever seem to find online about growing our income is to raise our prices.

Despite my doubts, I got on a sales call and, after a good conversation with the coach, decided to go for it.

The experience of being a participant rather than the guide

When the first call came around, back in January, I will admit that I was a little nervous before joining. I had to laugh at myself for finding it edgier to be a participant than to lead a group. I am still not exactly sure why.

My initial fears soon gave way to a deep feeling of relief. The kind of release that comes when you let go of control and surrender to the support available to you. It felt wonderful to know that it was not my job to hold space or provide support; my only job was to be open to receiving it.

It was also fascinating to watch how someone else held space and structured the calls inside an offer somewhat similar to mine. It felt different, and that was exciting. There were moments where I wished things were done the way I do them, and others where I thought, perhaps I could try that in my groups. I felt inspired.

But it was not all plain sailing.

I think it was on the second call that my heart sank when one participant shared her struggle with sign-ups for a launch and another said, “Just spam them!” You can imagine my horror. Thank goodness I was muted because I think I gasped out loud.

The mirror I needed

Something that being part of a small group mastermind gave me was the wisdom of a group of fellow business owners and their honest reflections about my work.

It was so interesting to see how they responded to my business. There were several moments when people had noticeable reactions.

There was the time I shared my annual income alongside the number of subscribers on my list. People were shocked that I could make the income I was making with such a small list and asked how I was doing it. Some of the other women had lists five or ten times the size of mine but were struggling to convert them into clients. I remember thinking, perhaps it is because I do not spam them.

Then there were the gasps when I shared the pricing for my yearlong group program, the Conscious Business Mastermind, and the number of calls I offered.

And despite my initial fear that I would be told to raise my prices, simply saying them out loud became a huge turning point for me. (I will share more on that in a future letter.)

What changed for me

So much has changed in my business as a result of being in the mastermind. I have re-thought my entire business model, decided to close a program I have been running for six years and, yes, in the end, I have raised some of my prices and put tighter boundaries around my time.

What I learned is that the biggest shifts and breakthroughs come not through information and advice but through taking action and reflecting on it. A big part of my previous programs focused on teaching and sharing the strategies and tools that helped me reach the level of success that I have.

Being in a group where teaching was not the priority, but reflection and action were, has changed my whole approach to facilitation. It is the reason I have decided to remove live classes from my programs next year. The strategies and tools will still be there, but what I will facilitate more is the reflecting and doing.

The permission and courage this group has given me to let go of what no longer serves me and to lean into my creativity and intuition has been such a gift. The changes you’re seeing unfold in my business are a direct result.

What this experience reminded me

Even after more than a decade in business, there is always more to learn, not just about strategy but about ourselves. Being in a space where I was not the one leading helped me reconnect with the curiosity and humility that got me started in the first place. It reminded me that growth doesn’t always come from knowing more; it comes from having the space to explore, reflect, and uncover what works for us.

More than anything, this year showed me that I do not have to do it all alone. Letting myself be supported does not make me less capable. It makes me more resourced, more creative, and more alive in my work.

I am so grateful I said yes, even with all my doubts. It has changed how I see my work, how I hold space, and how I define success.

DO YOU WANT TO ROOT & RISE IN 2026?

If you’re interested, I’d love you to check out Root & Rise. My two, year long programs in 2026 designed to help you grow your business with clarity, ease, and integrity.

Head to www.carolineleon.com/mastermind for all the details.

The Path to Mastery: Why Embarrassment Is the Entry Fee

The Path to Mastery: Why Embarrassment Is the Entry Fee

by | Jul 14, 2025 | Mindset, Uncategorized

The Path to Mastery: Why Embarrassment Is the Entry Fee

The Path to Mastery: Why Embarrassment Is the Entry Fee

I came across the following quote a few months ago and it stopped me in my tracks. It perfectly captures what the path to mastery really looks like:

“Embarrassment is the cost of entry. If you aren’t willing to look like a foolish beginner, you’ll never become a graceful master.”

~ Ed Latimore

I wholeheartedly agree with this and what I love so much about this quote is the link it makes between feeling like a foolish beginner and achieving a level of mastery. It got me thinking about what I have achieved over the last decade of running my own business and where I started the journey.

I still remember the excruciating fear of my first coaching session, my first group call, hitting publish on my first blog post and the first time I reached out to a stranger on the internet. Now I can tap back into the feelings of anxiety and self-doubt like it was yesterday.

I’ve been surprised numerous times over the years by just how terrifying being in business can feel at times but thankfully, I haven’t let it deter me from moving forward. I now find myself comfortably on the other side of many of those initial fears. Reading the quote above brought into sharp focus the link between facing those initial fears and the path to mastery at what we do.

The Myth of Mastery

Mastery is so often grossly misunderstood. More often than not, we look at someone who has achieved a level of mastery in a skill or profession and incorrectly assume that they’ve always been accomplished in this area. We assume they must possess some innate brilliance that we simply don’t.

That’s how I used to feel anyway.

And then someone told me what a gifted group facilitator they thought I was, which immediately transported me back to my very first group call. A Women’s Circle I decided to host, right at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. I was absolutely terrified, consumed with fear of failure and concerns over what the women on the call would think about me, but somehow, with a wobbly voice and shaking hands, I managed to pull it off.

I have no idea how I came across on that very first call — I’m certain my nerves showed — and I’m pretty sure that nobody would have referred to me as a gifted facilitator. More like a rabbit in the headlights.

Since that point I’ve hosted hundreds of live group calls. I’ve stumbled my way through tricky group dynamics, had more than a few difficult conversations with individual group members about their impact on the group and received a ton of feedback on my group facilitation skills that has helped me to improve and feel more confident. But it hasn’t been a straight line.

The Messy Middle

A while ago, I was feeling called to pull the plug on my yearlong group mastermind. I had stopped enjoying it and was feeling the call to do something else. So I sought out a coach to help me figure things out and as I talked about the group program, he said the following: “Sounds to me like you’re coming up against the edges of your leadership skills.” He went on to say that the problem wasn’t likely the program itself but my need to level up my skills at leading it.

It really hit home. I took what he had said to heart and I worked hard to improve my facilitation skills, not shying away when a situation required me to step up as the leader, no matter how uncomfortable I felt.

Since then my group program has only grown and I love it more than I ever have. Plus I feel confident about my skills and my ability to face any situation that might arise. Getting to this place with group facilitation has taken over a decade. It wasn’t something I was naturally gifted at nor particularly skilled at but it is something I’ve persevered with and managed to clock up hundreds of hours of practice at.

It would have been so easy for me not to push myself at working with groups. To let one bad experience derail my self-belief. The hard work has been pushing through that discomfort. I firmly believe that mastery is a relationship with discomfort, repetition, and showing up even when it’s messy.

What the Path to Mastery Looks Like

For me the journey to mastery goes through 4 stages:

1. The initial attempt. This is often the hardest thing to do. It’s the first time you’re trying something new. Perhaps it’s your first launch, your first video, your first group call. Whatever it is, it’s not something you’ve been able to practice and perfect so the vulnerability stakes are high. If we can get past our fear of looking foolish, this first milestone is huge.

2. Repeated practice. This is where we take that first attempt and we keep going. I’ve heard from so many business owners when discussing business strategies the following words: “I tried to do that and it didn’t work” which they present as justification for not trying again. Many of my first attempts at things have felt like failures (as a perfectionist that’s pretty much a given) but over time and with practice I’ve turned those initial “failures” into successes. You can only do that with repeated practice.

3. The messy middle. Sometimes when we’ve been practicing for a while, things come up that test our abilities, much like what happened with my group mastermind. I could feel comfortable and okay as long as I didn’t have to deal with anything too tricky. When things got challenging, the desire to bail got strong but leaning into my discomfort at these times is what has kept me on the path.

4. A level of mastery. This is where you’ve gone through the 3 stages and survived to tell the tale. People look at you and consider you gifted or skilled (and probably underestimating all the effort you’ve put in over the years). This is where the phrase “you make it look easy” comes into play. Not because it is easy but because you’ve done the work to make it look easy.

Every stage has its unique challenges. Your only goal, if mastery is what you are seeking, is to stay the course and keep showing up.

Why It’s Particularly Difficult for Business Owners

What makes the path to mastery so difficult for us is the fact that we are making the journey publicly. It’s not like learning to play the guitar, where you can go through the stages of mastery behind closed doors, in the comfort of your own bedroom.

For us, more often than not, the path to mastery requires us to face our fears and lean into vulnerability in front of an audience filled with prospective clients, peers and possibly mentors. And that is not easy.

It’s probably no secret by now that being an entrepreneur requires courage and determination. Not, as we often think, skills or confidence. They come later with time. The courage to take the first step and the determination to keep showing up? That’s what’s needed.

And now a question for you to contemplate:

Where are you holding back in business because you’re afraid of looking foolish?

And once you’ve identified that,

What first step would you be willing to take in the next week or two?

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to skip being a beginner. But rather than see that as a flaw, what if we viewed it as a rite of passage on the journey to mastery?

And when you are worried what people might think, remember most people are too busy worrying about not looking foolish themselves to really pay any attention to what you are doing.

If this post has inspired you to make a first step, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

 

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

Two Business Mindset Shifts That Changed My Year

Two Business Mindset Shifts That Changed My Year

by | May 28, 2025 | Business Growth, Mindset

Example of quick birthday sale email that brought in 1000 euros

Two Business Mindset Shifts That Changed Everything for Me

I want to share with you two big business mindset shifts that happened for me recently in the hope that it might spark a shift in perspective for you.

I learned many years ago—albeit quite late in life—that sometimes, when we are stuck in struggle, all that is needed to change EVERYTHING is a shift in perspective.

Why Perspective Matters in Business

A really simple example I always use to illustrate perspective is that two people can look out of a window and see heavy rain and one person can feel miserable about it and another person can feel happy about it (I’m the latter!). When we see this, we know then that rain, in and of itself, is neither a good nor a bad thing. What matters is our view of it. Our perspective.

What’s exciting is that when we change our perspective, it changes how we feel. And when we change how we feel, it changes what we do and how we show up.

We so often cling to supposed truths and deeply entrenched beliefs for dear life, even when doing so isn’t serving us. When we can see things differently, everything feels different—and when that happens, it can be a total game-changer for how we show up.

This is why, when I work with clients and they are struggling with something, I go straight to perspective and I ask:

Is the way you are looking at this causing you to feel some sort of way about it?

Mindset Shift #1: From Selling to List Building 

Allow me to share two shifts in perspective I’ve had recently that have changed my entire outlook on my year ahead.

At the end of last year, I wrote my business plan. I did so with a very specific financial target in mind. My plan was centred on how many clients and group/workshop participants I needed to get over the year to hit my goal. Which makes sense on one level—but I realised recently how short-sighted I was being.

My business model centres on four key offerings: 1:1 Coaching, my yearlong group mastermind, smaller group programs (which I only introduced last year), and workshops. My group mastermind and 1:1 are quite steady in terms of numbers, and once the mastermind starts, I know what my monthly income will be from that for the rest of the year. So if I want to increase income (or so I was telling myself), then my only option was to run more workshops and group programs and get more people into them.

Part of my plan for this month was to launch a new workshop, and a week or so ago I took several steps toward making it happen (dragging my feet along the way). I mentioned it in a newsletter to gauge interest (something that usually motivates me to move forward with the plan), I wrote an outline for the workshop, created a promo graphic, and I even worked on the sales page with my favourite copywriter.

As I considered the content, I figured it would require at least 2 x 90-minute teaching calls and probably a 60-minute Q&A call. I usually charge €50 for these, even though I acknowledged to myself some time ago that this price was too low for four hours of workshop time.

Then last week, when it came time to actually launch it, I just couldn’t do it. I actually said out loud at my desk: “I don’t want to do it!” The level of resistance I felt was huge. So much so that I abandoned the task of launching and decided that I would either abandon the idea altogether or simply do one 90-minute workshop for that price point at a later date. I immediately felt better.

You see, here’s the thing: I typically get, at best, around 20 paying people per workshop I run, and give away— to my clients and mastermind participants—another 35 free spots. Twenty people at €50 is €1,000. And as I considered all of the time it would take me to launch and market the workshop, design the workshop content, and deliver the workshop, €1,000 just wasn’t enough to motivate me to do it. And that was if I made €1,000. Given it was quite a techy topic, the chances are that fewer than 20 people would sign up. Meaning I might make €500–800 for all that work!

I had got so caught up in my thinking that I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. Thoughts like “it won’t be useful if it’s not got tons of teaching AND space for Q&A” and “if I charge more than €50, people won’t sign up.” So there I was, stuck with a set of beliefs that weren’t serving me and that were making me want to do anything BUT launch this damn workshop.

Realising all of this, I came to the conclusion that I would either postpone the workshop indefinitely OR I would run it as a single 90-minute session for €50.

From the space that had now been created inside me, the first shift happened. First of all, I could breathe again and felt light and joyful. Then, later that same day, I had a mastermind call (I joined a mastermind myself this year to support me in getting my business to the next level).

The topic of the mastermind call was audience and list growth, which is one of my strategic priorities for the year. I was excited to dive in and it didn’t disappoint—the coach who hosts the mastermind shared her best ideas for list growth, as did everyone else on the call. My mind was ablaze with ideas and then it hit me.

I realised that I had created a business plan so focused on selling this year to hit my financial goal that I wasn’t going to have time to take action on actually growing my list. That’s when I had my epiphany:

What if, instead of hustling to get people into my workshops and programs, I focused on list growth instead?

It was one of those moments where everything shifted—my whole plan for the year and, most importantly, my feelings about my plan! Whereas before I felt a certain sense of dread about marketing and launching so many things, I suddenly felt excited about all the amazing free things I could offer for people to find me and get to know me better—knowing that with a bigger list, it would be easier to fill my workshops next year! It seems so obvious now but I just couldn’t see it before.

With this shift in perspective, I felt so much lighter, so much more creative. Content ideas started flowing again and I felt excited about my work again.

Mindset Shift #2: From Heavy Launching to Light Selling

A few days later, it was my birthday (this is where shift #2 kicks in!). I had planned to head into the city with a friend to go shopping for new yoga clothes and have a nice lunch. My friend was due to pick me up at 9:30 a.m., and so once I awoke, I needed to get ready for the day ahead and get my boys up, fed, dressed, and off to school. It was going to be a busy morning—and then I had a thought!

Oh, it’s my birthday—what if I host a birthday sale for my subscribers?

Part of me thought it would be impossible to get it set up before my friend arrived, but I wanted to try! I had done sales before, so I had emails I could use and the infrastructure already set up. In 20 minutes, and with five minutes to spare before my friend arrived, I had sent the sale email!

Over the course of my birthday and the next day, sales of my workshop replays and bookings of gift and discounted coaching sessions came in. I couldn’t help but laugh as I thought about how heavy I had felt just a few days prior about how much work I was going to have to do to launch my workshop.

In the end, I made just under €1,000 on the sale. I couldn’t believe it—€1,000 for 20 minutes of work versus what I might have made (or probably less) for a workshop that would have taken me about 30 hours to launch, create, and deliver. I have no doubt that my first shift is what gave me the idea and the energy to execute the sale.

Questions to Spark Your Own Shift

These two shifts have changed everything for me, and since having them, I’m having so many ideas about other things I could change in my business to make my life and work more easy.

Now I know it’s not always easy to create a shift in perspective, but I’ll leave you with a few questions that might spark some inspiration when you are feeling in struggle:

What about this could I do differently?

How could this be easier?

What if I ripped up the plan and did something else entirely?

What ideas or beliefs about myself or my business am I holding onto that aren’t serving me?

Let’s Talk

If you have any questions about what I’ve shared here, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments.

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

Three Things I Do When In A Time Crunch

Three Things I Do When In A Time Crunch

by | Feb 11, 2025 | Mindset, Uncategorized

 “You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.”
~ Timber Hawkeye

 

I want to share with you three things I do when I have more things to do than time available to do them in.

I know that in crunch times, it’s all too easy to fall into a state of overwhelm but I learned long ago that overwhelm is a choice and so staying out of overwhelm is also, therefore, a choice. Here’s what I do instead.

 

I reject overwhelm

I’ve written about overwhelm as it effects business owners several times over the years and I always talk about my belief that overwhelm is a choice.

If you think about it, it makes sense. If it weren’t a choice, how is it that some people can feel overwhelmed having far less to do than other people who don’t feel overwhelmed with far more to do.

It’s a bit like rain, one person can look out of the window see rain and feel down, whilst another person (me!) can look out of the window, see rain and feel uplifted. It all depends on how we think about rain (or overwhelm!) I learned many years ago that if I succumb to feelings of overwhelm, they paralyzed me and make it certain that I will in fact get far less done than if I choose to think about things differently.

So rather than collapse into thoughts of “this is impossible, I’ll never get everything done!!” instead, I get strategic and practical and I breakdown my list into priorities and start to take focused and sustained action.

 

I manage my energy

When feelings of overwhelm and stress are circling, I know that the easy route is to try and bury those feelings in food, netflix and doom scrolling. Believe me when I tell you that I am in no way perfect and have taken the easy route more times than I care to mention. It’s precisely because I’ve been down that road and know where it takes me, that when push really comes to shove I know that I need to do everything I can to protect my mindset and my energy. Something neither of those easy options do.

So instead of checking my phone first thing in the morning, listening to the news while I make breakfast, and then rushing around trying to do a million things (all while feeling heartbroken at the state of the world), I actually seriously slow the f*ck down.

The busier I am the more likely it is that I’ll take the time to write in my gratitude journal first thing, then when I get to my office, I’ll burn some incense, savour my cup of coffee and listen to calming music, usually from either Satnam Kaur or Beautiful Chorus before I even think about work.

The impact this has on my ability to stay calm, centered and focused is huge. Only then will I allow myself to tackle my workload.

 

I bend time

Years ago when working with my first Business Coach, I was working on a email course for my audience and in a session, when my coach asked me why I hadn’t done all of my homework, I complained that the lessons for my email course were taking forever to create. I was at that point taking nearly a whole week to create each lesson’s email.

My coach, who was fond of giving me meaty challenges, invited me to create the next week’s lesson in just 90 minutes. As you might imagine, I laughed in response. “not possible” I argued but he persisted. He told me to put aside 90 minutes the following day and use my phone to set a timer, the goal was to complete the email lesson before the 90 minute timer went off. I agreed to try but I couldn’t help feeling like he was setting me up to fail.

The next morning, I did as he told me and something miraculous happened. I did it. I finished the lesson in 90 minutes. I was amazed, it felt like magic and I haven’t looked back since.

I later learned that this is a tool called time-blocking and I’ve been a convert ever since.

My time-blocking game has advanced over the decade since that first experience with it and I now follow the 52/17 rule.

This means using a timer, I spend 52 minutes working on a specific task followed by a 17 minute break.

When I am working I am 100% focused on the task at hand and if I feel tempted to do something else, like check my email or scroll on social media, I only need to look up at my timer and know that soon I’ll have a 17 minute break in which I can do anything I want.

When I’m lucky enough to get a whole day to work on things I’ll plan out my whole day like this using a time calculator. It’s a full day but with plenty of breaks.

And there you have it, 3 things I do to stop me falling apart when I have more work than I can possibly handle! Is there anything you would add to this list? Or anything on this list you would love to try, hot reply and let me know.

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