Daily Digest: No. 11
Good morning, you fucking badass.
That’s right, I said it. You’re a badass and do you know why?
Because if you think back to all the hard moments in your life that you thought you’d never get through, all the tough shit that’s happened, all the stuff you didn’t want to do… spoiler alert… YOU DID THOSE THINGS!
And now you’re here.
You’re awake, enjoying your morning coffee and you’re ready to take on the day because you’re a fucking badass!
Daily Digest: No. 10
It may sound counterintuitive to being successful, but seriously, stop checking your emails every minute. And, definitely turn off the notifications on your phone and computer!
They’re distracting and they take away from our ability to actually focus on work.
Unpopular opinion coming in here: Emails are not urgent.
However, emails are important!
Email has become the main communication channel between my customers and me for both B2B and B2C. I really like the slower pace of it so I lean into it!
Here’s my email mindset –
I only check my emails if I have the time and energy to respond.
Because:
If I’m too busy then I’m not offering a thoughtful reply.
If I’m too tired then I’m not offering a thoughtful reply.
If I’m too distracted then I’m not offering a thoughtful reply.
If I’m out of the office and on my phone then I’m not offering a thoughtful reply.
Not providing a thoughtful reply doesn’t serve my customer or me because it only leaves more questions (and emails) to be answered!
If I can’t meet the needs of the email at that moment then what’s the point of opening my inbox at all? It’s just adding more to information into my brain and for no gain.
Here is when I check my emails –
Every morning: Consumer-facing inbox – Open and check inbox ONE TIME answering any questions and finishing every email.
Morning, Noon, Night: Wholesale-facing and direct to me emails – Open and check THREE TIMES per day. Morning usually establishes if I have any orders to fulfill. Midday is usually just a glance through to see if there are any loose ends. Evening has one last check to sort through interesting items I might want to read to wind down before closing out for the night.
That’s it!
Not everything is urgent. Email is not urgent. Email is however important so it deserves your full attention. If someone needs you they can call or text you, they’re not going to email so stop opening that inbox!
I even deleted the email app off my phone so I don’t just open it because it’s there. Try it, it’s worth it!
Daily Digest: No. 6
I’m here to tell you (and me) that you can let this job be easy.
You can wake up every day and decide to say, “I get to do this today. This is exactly what I dreamed of before I started my business.”
I think a lot of the challenges we face as independent business owners is from our own internal struggles.
Maybe we don’t know how to do something so it feels challenging to learn.
Maybe we have a to-do list a mile long so it feels daunting to tackle.
Maybe we have outside requests for our attention so it feels like there’s never any time to accomplish what we need to in a day.
But you know what? We’ve learned something new before. We’ve finished several to-do lists over the years. We’ve gotten a lot of work done even with other people asking us for stuff!
Whatever the struggle is it’s there, it feels real and it happens to all of us every day.
But I’m here today to think about a new way to approach our work day. What if we just sat down and got to work? What if we just chose the most important small task at the top of our list and did it until it was done? What’s more satisfying than finishing something? Not much! What a great way to start the day.
Which is why –
I want to sit down every day and remember why I do what I do.
I want to sit down every day and just get something done.
I want to get out of my own way and let my job be easy.
I chose this job (career, life path…) for a reason and I want that reason to stop feeling like an uphill climb.
I’m going to let it be easy and see where that takes me...