Erin Thomas Wong (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to the Life-Friendly Business podcast. I'm Erin, the Life-Friendly Business mentor, and I help female solopeners build businesses that work with their real lives, not against them. And in this season, we're looking at a different way to think about your entire business.
Over the last few episodes, we've talked about building your business around your capacity, redefining success on your terms and letting go of the idea that you are behind. But even when you start to shift all of those things, there's something else that can keep you stuck. And it's this, running your business in reactive mode.
This looks like...
jumping straight into work without a plan, constantly responding to messages, emails, notifications, doing whatever feels most urgent in the moment, ending every day feeling busy, but not actually clear on what you've moved forward with. And it feels like you're always on. You never quite catch up. Your brain feels full all the time and you feel like you don't have any space to think.
And this is especially important when you're a one person business because it's so easy to spend every day being reactive, just trying to fulfil the service that you offer, supporting your clients, delivering the work, ticking off the next thing. And before you know it, you're showing up like the employee in your business, not the person leading it. And this is the shift.
taking back control and intentionally stepping into the role of the boss, even if it's just for a few hours each week. Recognising that you are not just there to do the work, you're there to lead the business, to decide where it's going, to decide what matters and what gets your time and energy.
And I've experienced this myself many times. I used to go into Monday mornings with this expectation that I should just be able to hit the ground running, start the week strong, get straight into work.
The reality was I was often exhausted from mum life. I'd done the school run that morning, the first of the week, my brain felt full before I'd even started work and I just could not get my head into gear. I'd sit down at my desk and feel foggy, distracted, unfocused and then I'd start beating myself up thinking what's wrong with me? Why can't I just get on with it?
And then suddenly the morning felt like a complete waste. But everything changed when I started taking control of my Monday mornings. Instead of expecting myself to just dive straight into work, I created space to actually lead my business first.
For me, that looks like leaving the house. I go to a nice cafe, I order myself a latte, and I give myself space to properly think.
It's there that I can reflect, get everything out of my head, think about what actually matters this week and then make decisions. I rewrite my to-do list, not based on urgency, but based on priority. And for me, this is always a two hour block because one hour just isn't really enough to properly get into it. And I need that time to settle, to think.
and then get into the flow. And this isn't about having loads of time, it's about using the time that you do have differently. Because when your time is limited, that's even more reason to start your week with CEO time, to step back, to think and to decide what actually matters. It's the whole idea of sharpening the axe before you try to cut the tree down. Because otherwise, you're just jumping straight
into doing without any clarity on whether you're even focusing on the right things. And the difference that this has made to me and to my clients is huge. I no longer dread Mondays, I actually love them because I feel in control of my week. I feel clear and I know exactly what I'm going to be focusing on.
And this is what I mean when I talk about stepping into your CEO role. It's not about doing more, it's about creating the space to think, decide and lead.
This is where you look at the bigger picture. You decide your priorities, you make decisions and you plan your next steps.
And this is also where you come back to your capacity, not just in theory, but in practice. How are things actually feeling right now, today? Because it's one thing to say, I've got this many hours this week, but it's another thing to slow down to notice, I'm feeling really stretched, I'm really tired. This week feels fuller than I expected.
And when you have time to check that and to listen to your gut, you get to make different decisions. You might decide that actually I'm not going to say yes to that this week and I'm not going to take on something that feels urgent for someone else but not for me. I'm actually going to protect my time and energy a bit more fiercely because when you don't pause to check in on this, you just keep saying yes. You keep reacting and you're
capacity quietly gets stretched further and further. But this is what being the CEO looks like. Stepping back, checking in and making decisions based on what actually works for you. Because your business doesn't need more from you, it needs clearer direction from you.
So instead of asking, what do I need to do today? Start asking, what does my business actually need from me right now? This is what I call the Own move in my life-friendly business framework, stepping into your role as the leader of your business. So I want you to think about this. Where are you reacting instead of leading?
And if you're ready to feel more in control of your business, to stop feeling pulled in every which direction and to start making clearer, more confident decisions, then The Cocoon is where to start. It's my membership for female solopreneurs who want more clarity, more focus and a way of doing business that actually works for them. You'll find the link in the show notes. And remember, you get to do this your way.
See you next week.
