Breathing Room

This post today is my contribution for my friend Racheal Cook’s Biz That Loves You Back Blog Tour. When she asked me to pull back the curtain and give you an honest glimpse on how I create a business that I love (and loves me back), I jumped right in! It’s a huge honor to be sharing my story alongside 30 other busy entrepreneurs.

Yesterday Brittany Becher shared her experiences with you and tomorrow you’ll want to check out Ellen Ercolini.

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When you are running your own business, you have days where you are barely able to catch your breath. On any given day you may be taking care of clients, managing paperwork, dealing with website crashes, and marketing…in addition to walking the dog, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, and picking the kids up from school.

Those four hour work weeks? Fuggetaboutit. Most of us who’ve been at our entrepreneur gigs for a while know that’s a bigger myth than a sparkly rainbow-colored unicorn.

It’s real work. And to manage all of the working parts plus taking good care of your family? This is no easy feat (although some of us do make it look that way).

I’ve been at my work for over twenty-five years and I’ve had to learn (the hard way) to properly pace my work life so I can still have a full + meaningful life.

My secret? Everything is rigidly scheduled with sacred pauses sprinkled throughout my day.

What is a sacred pause? It’s that wee space that allows me to reframe my brain and take in a moment just for me. It’s a mini-reboot. A strategic time out. This allows me to be more productive – and present, which is vital when most of your work is people-centric.

Take a moment right now to sit with your breath. As you breathe in, you’ll notice a tiny pause at the top of your exhale. As you breathe out, there is another slight pause before the next breath comes in. It’s subtle but it’s there. In that small moment, total relaxation takes place. There is peace in those pauses.

Most people breathe shallowly, never taking in deep, cleansing breaths. And many entrepreneurs run their businesses the same way: constant work and no breathing room.

This begins to feel like a hamster wheel until you learn how to pause and take a moment for yourself.

In the beginning of my business, I worked like a machine. I was young, I was naive, and I didn’t know how to stop and smell the sandalwood. I was raised in a family of workaholics and it was (and still is) my nature to work hard. While I like that, I often felt exhausted back in the day.

It’s because I didn’t know how to say no or to rest. There was no breathing room in my business or my day.

While I had the stamina to manage that back then, it was wearing on my nerves and I knew I could not keep at that pace forever.

And then the bottom dropped out.

My mother died and my whole world changed. Suddenly, I was in charge of my elderly father, warring siblings, and the mountain of debt my mother left behind. All this and two businesses and my family.

I was in over my head. Something had to give or I was going to break.

I began to take a good, hard look at my schedule and started to make some strategic decisions. I cut out some of my yoga classes. I reduced my days for reading with clients from seven days a week to four. I scheduled in my other tasks (housekeeping, paperwork) on certain days. This gave me a framework that allowed me to take good care of my business – and my dad.

I also began creating sacred pauses in my day. This might be a quiet moment in the morning to sit by the window and watch birds with my cat. Morning meditation before everyone else gets up. A cup of tea and piece of chocolate at my desk while I watch a video. Coffee with my husband. Space between appointments so that I can recenter myself. A quick walk outside to clear my head. An episode of Judge Judy to break up my day. A little nap (with a cat, of course).

It may be a few seconds, a few minutes, or a full, delicious hour.

On some days, all I can do is get in a few moments here and there but when I do, I make the most out of it. It’s intentional peace.

I savor those small moments fully.

And when I allow them to be part of my daily life, I show up better. More present. Ready to work (or play) at optimum capacity.

I can breathe.

And so can my business.

How do you take a sacred pause in your busy day? Hit me up on Twitter @thetarotlady and tell me about your #sacredpause please.

Blessings,

Theresa

PS: my daily schedule is busy but trust me, there is plenty of time for jamming with some Maury or rearranging my collection of tiny plastic animals.