it took me a long time to start seeing my business as my job
When I first started Late Breakfast, I was working full-time at a creative agency. I had been there about five years aka long enough for it imprinted in my brain and body that that was ‘my job.’ It was a place I was expected to be for set hours, where others depended on me and the role I served there. At the time I was a Resources Manager, Employee Engagement and Communications Manager and an occasional Writer. In other words, I had a lot of responsibility. And there was a part of me that completely thrived on that. It felt good to be trusted to hold so many roles and the satisfaction of delivering things on time (even if it meant sacrificing time that I wanted to work on my business). But because I saw the three roles I held at work as more important than the work I was doing with Late Breakfast, it was much easier to push it aside. It didn’t feel like it had the same gravity if I dropped the ball there.
So when I went full-time with my business in 2024, it was still hard to see Late Breakfast as ‘my job.’ It was much easier to keep pushing my projects and ideas out on my calendar because no one was waiting for it but me. If I was at my agency job, I wouldn’t have felt the same liberty to keep pushing out a deadline because it’d impact someone whose job was the next step in the process. So why didn’t I feel the same towards the ideas that I wanted to bring to life for my own business?
How do I know that by me pushing these goals for myself further and further out, that it didn’t impact someone who is needing this medicine in their life at that moment? And what if it’s my job to deliver that to them?
Underneath it all, I found a few unconscious beliefs that were keeping me stuck:
Self-sabotaging by not trusting my business to support me fully
It took me awhile to recognize this one. I left my full-time job to go all-in on my business. What I learned in the process were the ways that I had built my business to prioritize other incomes, to prioritize the things that felt “sure” when what I needed was for it to be the other way around. When I was at my 9-5, I squeezed in Yoga and sound healing events in the evenings fresh off of 6-hours of Zoom calls. I stacked my weekends and called it pouring into my business when what I needed was to pour into myself, because this cup has been empty for longer than I can remember.
I felt insecure that as a Reiki practitioner, sound healer and Yoga teacher that I was feeling this way. How can I offer relaxation to others but not myself? And I realized the difference was the space I was holding for others did not equal the space I was holding for myself. I had neglected to pour into myself, to recharge and to regroup.
Reframing the word ‘job’
The word ‘job’ can carry a lot of stigma based on past experiences. It can feel like a place you love showing up to or:
A feeling of obligation
The feeling of always running behind
A relationship (or multiple) that leaves you depleted
By carrying these unconscious beliefs about work into my business, I wasn’t giving myself space for the freedom I was seeking. It took me awhile to recognize that I was seeing my business as a place where I was always running behind, where my to-do list was never-ending and there would never be enough time to catch up. I experienced the feeling of wearing too many hats in my previous roles and that same anxiety lingered when I suddenly became a full-time social media manager, event planner, bookkeeper, administrative assistant, creative director (and the list goes on) for my own business. It was overwhelming to feel like I had to be everything but barely had the time to dive deep on anything.
A friend of mine put being a business owner in terms of being both your own boss and your own employee. It’s possible to be a good boss and a bad employee or a bad boss and good employee. I was the latter. I was juggling posting on social, planning events, responding to emails, taking 1:1 clients and teaching classes; but it was with the tradeoff that I was staying up late working, way overscheduling what I could realistically get done in a day and then being hard on myself for not getting everything done. I would never ask someone to work until 12am and then get up at 6am to finish what they didn’t get done the night before, so why was I asking this of myself?
It’s no wonder I started to feel burnt out in my business, I was being the boss no one wants to come across, the one who holds unrealistic expectations of what one person can do, who wants you to put the business before your own health.
When I shifted from feeling like I had to do everything at once, to feeling like I can take my time, a world opened. So how do I keep my cool even when my to-do list overflowing?
By keepin’ it real
Sometimes there are weeks where everything is happening at once, and riding that wave is part of learning to find more balance in your work.
Set myself up for success
If I’m the one setting the timelines, why was I not setting myself up for success? I started by setting goals that I could actually accomplish. I like to look at my day and ask “if I can just get one thing done today, what would that be?” This helps me to start by prioritizing the thing that feels most important and also feeling accomplished by getting that one thing done. From there, everything else feels like a bonus. This practice also helps to build trust in your body and nervous system as your body learns that you regularly set and complete your goals.
I find my brain works best when I’m only focusing on 2-4 things per week. Look at your schedule and visualize what actually feels doable in the week, and if something doesn’t –– either make the conscious decision for that to wait, or see where there’s flexibility to lessen the time you spend on another task to make space for it. The goal is not to overschedule, but be realistic with the time you actually have available.
Set boundaries around your time
Part of finding balance is recognizing that there are weeks where you just won’t have time to work on something, and that’s okay. Instead of trying to squeeze it into a little pocket of time, use that pocket of time for self-care or something relaxing. Get really clear on when you are and aren’t working. When work and life blend together, it’s hard to separate sending one last email from letting your work completely take over your evening.
Recognize you have control over your work
One of the main contributors to burnout is having little to no control over your work. Making the shift to recognizing that you have control over what you work on and when can shift the way you see your tasks and projects. Maybe you only have time to work on one project for 2 hours in a week, planning for those 2 hours will feel much fulfilling than squeezing in five and 10-minute frantic work sessions.
Ready to bring your ideas to life, but stuck on the how?
I offer Dreamweaving sessions to support small business owners, solopreneurs and creatives in getting clear on their offer so they can creative with confidence. Book your session or a free discovery call here