Maybe you remember that I wrote a blog in which I shared tips forkeeping a journal ? I'll have to read that one again myself, because I've lost it. It has been a little quieter in the shop over the past two weeks, so I took a little more rest myself. I can tell you that the busy months of November and December were quite busy! ;). I didn't quite expect to be so busy. Happy me, because oh my: your orders! Thanks ALL! I'm super grateful that Splendith is growing so much!
Real life
The last two months flew by but were great and secretly quite stressful if I may say so. A growing company presents the necessary challenges. In short, stress and long days mean that I no longer take care of myself. As in big time: fast food, no exercise, a gang everywhere and doing everything at the same time. Yup, real life people. I love my job!
Perhaps recognizable if you are an entrepreneur or in general for our generation? You get excited about your work and it's awesome to work on your goals. It seems like you're only as successful as you make yourself, right? The harder you work, the more you achieve? Hmm…
Alternate stress with rest
By now I need quite a few paragraphs to introduce something. You will remain the best at what you do if you also take good care of yourself. This will be different for everyone, but for me stressful periods have to be relieved by simply doing less for a few days. There's no shame in that. During the Christmas holidays I had tea on the couch, slept in, did fun things and sometimes didn't work at all for a day ;).
This is how you guard your boundaries
With your own company, the only limit is the one you set yourself. I'm getting better at setting those boundaries. Here are some tips on how I help myself to guard these boundaries.
-
It starts with an achievable to-do list.
So make a to-do list on Sunday evening or Monday morning with three larger tasks for the entire week and of course also the smaller to-do's. I wrote more about it in thisblog . -
Schedule your work for 8-hour work days
So not in 14-hour working days ;) You're just a human being. Believe me: make days like this for a few days/weeks and you will definitely get more work done. If you do it for a month, you will do in 14 hours what you would otherwise do in 8 hours. Your energy decreases and you are definitely less productive. -
Make achievable promises to your customers or the people you work with.
As an example: I actually ship orders every day, so it is tempting to say: 'ordered before 4 p.m., shipped the same day'. That means I can never go away for an unplanned day or be sick without breaking promises. That is why I simply indicate: shipped within 2 working days. -
Get out of the office!
Do you ever feel guilty when you actually have to answer emails or complete tasks? Or that you actually still have something to finish? Work never stops, so just close that trade. Not if you have made promises to your customers of course! And if you are away for a day, communicate this well to your customers. -
Distinguish between your tasks
During the day I work on my to-do list and daily tasks. Because I really love what I do, I often work in the evenings. But then I only do what I feel like. So procrastinate to the max J. Who doesn't like that, hahaha. These are the hours that I blog, paint and invent new things, for example.
It is Saturday afternoon that I am writing this blog and I am already eager to get started in a wonderfully productive way on Monday. My feasible to-do list is already ready.
Love,
Judith.
