085: Taking it slow to be more productive
I’ve been craving time to work on the backend of my business the past week, because I want to prepare for the year before I dive into all the outward-facing marketing activities I want to do this year.
At the same time, I’m feeling the pressure to tackle the outward-facing things RIGHT AWAY. I want to plan the spring's podcast episodes, get on other people’s podcasts, do more collaborations – maybe even publish a few youtube videos since I deleted all my videos last fall. (The list goes on.)
Since I’m feeling this pull between these two energetic extremes, I figured you might also be feeling something similar.
In this episode, you'll hear me
- go all in on a nature metaphor 🌱
- give a behind-the-scenes peek into 3 things I want to improve in my business design
- share how improving things on the backend of your business helps you make faster progress when you get back to the outward-facing work
Mentioned in this episode:
Episode 055: The one key shift to make faster progress in business
Blog post version of episode 055: 5 activities to grow your business without hustle
Productivity Ecosystem summary
Check out current free resources
Grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on Instagram
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Show notes
To feel prepared for the year and feel more confident that the time and efforts I put in are more effective, I’d like to make some improvements to the design part of my ecosystem before I “bloom”.
There are three things I want to improve that I believe will make it easier to make money: my messaging, my podcast strategy, and setting up a page where past clients can sign up for continued coaching offers only available to past clients. I’m getting help with my messaging and the podcast later this month.
I also want to tweak my schedule, which I believe will help with my energy management and my productivity. The past few years have been *a lot* – and I finally feel like I have the energy for a more consistent schedule again.
While figuring these things out may not seem that urgent, they’re more important than the stuff that feels urgent – aka “blooming” and making sales. Because ultimately, I’d have to work harder to make sales if I don’t have these things figured out or put in place first.
I’d rather work smart than work hard.
Something I’ve learned over the last few years, is that often when we feel like things are urgent and we should push onwards, it’s better to take a step back and get our bearings.
Essentially, when we try to rely only on motivation and force, we’re only leaning into the sisu piece of our ecosystem, which makes us unbalanced. We need to lean on design and wholeness, too, to stay balanced and make sustainable progress.
In most cases when it comes to business, we don’t need as much time as we think to get our bearings and prepare. It can *feel* like we’ll fall behind, but in reality, we probably save ourselves more time than the time it took to prepare.
I know I’ll save myself a lot of time and effort by working on these backend things over the next few weeks – even if it feels a bit scary income-wise. I’ll just keep reminding myself that not all work looks productive on the outside.
Figuring out which behind-the-scenes updates might make the biggest impact is also something I love doing with my clients. If you’ve got more updates in mind than what can actually fit your schedule, we can identify which ones to prioritize *and* how to make time for them.