horse
Productivity: Live a Full Life Through Work and Play

Once upon a time, there was young woman who loved her business. She loved it so much, she worked on it night and day. When she worked with others, she expected them to love her business as much as she did. She didn’t understand when people would take vacations, or breaks for that matter. She ate her lunch at her desk. She was dedicated! She was proud of her work ethic and the fact she would “do what it took” to succeed. After awhile, she was also burned out. No matter how hard she would try to sustain her performance, she just didn’t move as quickly as she wanted to. She lost her energy. And, then, she started wondering why she was working on her business at all. She had a full life. It was just full in ways that drained her.

It’s a nightmare of a fairy tale.

Yet, day after day, this is what many business owners do to themselves. They push hard. They lack working boundaries. Soon their life becomes work until one day someone asks them about their hobbies. The answer becomes, I work.

Awhile back, I wrote an article called “7 reasons why down time is not a waste of time.” This is a continuation of that article. Not only is downtime not a waste of time, it’s essential to re-energize, receive inspiration, and stay healthy. According to Psychology Today, workaholism is a disease. Those who work, regularly, in excess of 50 hours a week without extended time off or regular breaks are more likely to get sick. Additionally, relationships are affected and (gasp) they make less money, not more.

There are two types of full life: 1) the type that is full just to be full and busy, it’s mostly work, and 2) the type that fills your heart and spirit, it energizes you versus drains you.

So what’s a motivated person to do?

You have to work. But, what would happen if you told yourself, “I have to play?”

Step 1: Calendar it out. If you love your calendar, use it to help you build your new habit of play. Pick a color that represents play to you. Mine is bright yellow.

Step 2: Start slow. Remember, it’s not about running away from it all. It’s about taking time away to recharge, get some new ideas (no, you aren’t forcing these ideas by traveling with a way to take notes).

Step 3: Sabotage yourself. Go somewhere its not necessarily convenient to work, a beach, a lake, hiking, horseback riding, somewhere where thoughts can come of their own accord but you have to stay present. Persistent working is a hard habit to break. So set yourself up for success by making sure its hard for you to fall back into old habits.

Step 4: Enjoy. Allow yourself to get into what you are doing. Part of the benefit to play is the release of endorphins and dopamine. It’s that feel good formula that leaves you energized versus tired.

Step 5: Observe. Without trying to make anything happen you will see something is! You are sharper at work. Your body may feel lighter. You may be inspired. You might have more energy overall. And (oh no) you might want to do it again.

I would love to hear how your play experiments go. Drop a comment below. If you need help structuring this full life experiment for yourself, schedule 30 minutes with me. I swear it will be productive.

Even a coach need motivation.
Mindset: How do you motivate yourself?
Even a coach need motivation.
Even a coach needs motivation.

When it comes to motivation, do you coach yourself to success or paint yourself into a corner? Part of business is learning how to coach and motivate others. But you also have to motivate yourself if you are going to drive the success of your company.

I love Audible. I pay a subscription fee and I get to download anything I want for one credit. The subscription is motivation to keep consuming information. After all, a coach is only as good as the information they can provide. Hiring a coach is like taking a football team filled with coaches and committing to one to give you personal attention. I listen to a lot of books because I multi-task. I made it through seven chapters of Jen Sincero’s “You are a Bad Ass” between Coloma, CA and Carson City, NV. I could not have done that with a paper copy. In fact, I think this coach would have killed her business and herself in the process of trying. To save lives and expand minds, I am gladly giving away a 30 day Audible Free Trial [Digital Membership].

See, I am always on the look out for tools to motivate me. I see motivation as the gas that makes my business engine run. My company is healthier when I do the work to motivate myself. I motivate others better when I motivate myself. I have always used vision boards to propel my business forward. In fact, everything I coach I do myself. Go figure. Want to see if What Works Coaching works? Look at how healthy What Works Coaching is! Basic business 101 – no contractor’s dilemma here. I know I must fill my own cup first before filling others.

Yes, that means you need to motivate yourself and that will fill up your cup. So, how do you motivate yourself when energy is low, ideas are short, and time is shorter? Well, you might want to consider looking for a coach. For me, I downloaded “You are a Bad Ass.” I do highly suggest you read or listen to that book. You might like the You Are a Badass 2017 Day-to-Day Calendar. But, since Jen Sincero may not be on your speed dial, maybe consider putting me on there.

Schedule some time with me. If you are super convinced already that coaching is right for your business, go all in on one hour. If you want to stick your toe in the puddle of motivation and risk 20 minutes of your time to possibly motivate the hell out of yourself, schedule a complimentary 20 minute session.

Whatever you do, do something – anything. Take action. Because action is what motivation is really all about. Unless you can think of a company that stayed in the black doing nothing. I’m waiting… No company can do that? You would be right.

So my question to you, right here, right now, is this. How do you motivate yourself? Share in the comments below. Who knows. The way you motivate yourself might motivate others, which will great sweet rapids of motivation we can all raft. Let’s go!

Down Time is Not a Waste of Time - So Relax!
7 reasons why down time is not a waste of time

Fall semester is just around the corner! This means, for college students, life may get a little harder to balance. Parents have double duty with kids going back to school. Responsibility (ick, that WORD) may be barreling toward you at warp speed. But, that doesn’t mean you have to turn into a workaholic. When you keep down time in your schedule, studies show it makes you more productive! Here’s are seven reasons why chilling out does not mean you are slacking off.

1) Relaxation = Creativity: When you relax, carry a notepad and pen with you. Prepare to jot down ideas or inspirations you get. When your mind is clear, you are more open to inspiration. If you are ready to capture your genius ideas, suddenly that mid-week fun time is productive time.

Finish reading the article on PuckerMob…

Give a Man a Fish
What costs less, learning to do it or having it done?

GiveaManaFish

If you’ve read the story about What Works, you know that our firm used to be all about taking over the reins – being an installed executive, doing your email programs, web sites, marketing plans and marketing campaigns for you. Can we still refer you to people who can do it for you if you need it? Absolutely! We do that every day. But what we really prefer to do is coach you on HOW to do it. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” That old Chinese Proverb is actually very true.

Think about it. If we teach you What Works for your unique situation, than you have the power, the knowledge, to continue forward and repeat that process if your issue should ever recur again. However, if we say – “here, let’s just do that for you, charge you this nifty one time fee and its done,” what’s the result? Sure, its done for you. The issue has been handled – THIS TIME. However, the next time you need something done, you are stuck in the mud. At that point you look for a new solution, a new vendor,  or a new whatever.  Why look for something new over and over again when you can participate in the development of your own trusted, tried and true tools? At What Works, we give you the tools to be unstuck.

Today’s exercise: Think of past situation where something “stuck” in your business. How did it get there? Where did you shift things to unstick it? What guidance would you give yourself now that it’s unstuck? Did your solution teach you how to fish or was it a Band-Aid to get past temporary pain?

When you see an issue, you need to fish for lasting solutions or rush for a quick fix?

Tell us all about it in the comments below and, if we can help, contact us.