This past week was full of ups and downs. I was really looking forward to starting my ‘productivity’ month following a really busy period which saw me juggling many things at the same time – events, travelling, meetings, planning and onboarding new clients.
Unfortunately, my body had other plans. It was too tired of being constantly pushed over the limit and decided that it needed a break… so I got a cold.
At first, I was really frustrated, as for a few days I was absolutely unable to do anything and for the rest of the week I was feeling really tired. It was a good thing, as I really needed a day or two to completely switch off and do nothing. Even though I make sure to take a break every now and then and I travel a lot, there’s just something different about spending the whole day in bed watching TV and eating comfort food.
Do you have any tips on planning your time to relax to avoid pushing yourself over the limit? How often do you schedule ‘do nothing time’ to give your body (and mind) proper break? What do you do to find the right balance between work and leisure long-term? How can you make sure that you actually take the time off when you need to? I’d love to know!
How to find the right balance?
I’ve been also thinking a lot about finding the right balance and timing between personal and business goals. I mainly started freelancing to be more flexible and free with my time so that I could travel more (which absolutely happened), but now I also have some bigger business dreams that require me to stay where I am (at least for a while).
How do you know what to do when your passion for business and passion for living your life in a certain way are pulling you in two different directions?
On my recent trip to the seaside, I discovered this plaque in one of the local gift stores, and the quote on it really resonated with me:
Do your best, believe and surrender to the universe
Since I started running my business I began to believe in karma more and more. A few of my favourite quotes that I’m using on my vision board and I often remind myself of are:
‘Work hard and be nice to people’ and ‘Give away without expecting anything in return and you’ll receive more than you could ever imagine’. I’m not sure where I stole these from, but they are absolutely true!
I’ve always believed that if you work hard, do your best and put all the efforts and energy into your business, you’ll succeed. And it’s true! But it’s only recently I’ve learnt that if you also set clear intentions about your future, surrender yourself to the universe and stop worrying about here and now, it will work even better.
Just this week, I’ve got the perfect example of my strong intentions coming to life. One day I was talking with my business advisor about my plans for the future and about the shift I want to make in my business – moving more towards teaching, running courses and educating people – and the very next day the perfect opportunity presented itself.
Sometimes it takes time. Being more patient was one of the biggest challenges I had to overcome when I started my business. But there’s an abundance of opportunities out there for everyone and if you work hard (and smart), you’ll succeed.
That’s my mantra!
Do you agree? I’d love to know what the business philosophies you swear by are.
Book Corner
This week I don’t have any new book recommendations for you, but I’d love to hear from you. What book(s) are you reading at the moment? Let me know in comments or tweet me at @lenkakopp.
