Hi ,
Here we are, almost at the end of January! I gotta say, I'm pretty happy about it since I'm already itching for spring...but it has been a pretty good month despite the dark and cold outside.
Hot Tip for Planning Your Week
It's been two weeks since we started our Forward Focus Hour in The Happy Squirrel Collective, and I think spending dedicated time planning out tasks is making a difference. My goal is to help business owners build the habit so it comes easier, and it has been a fun experiment so far.
We're talking a lot about
going through your calendar and counting realistically how many hours you plan to dedicate to work in a week. Take out transition time, lunch, any breaks you want, anything that's already scheduled, and look at what's left. Then look at your to-do list. Does it actually fit the time you have planned? Instead of hoping for the best, start your week off critically evaluating what will likely get pushed until next week. Then, instead of feeling bad about it later, just push it now. Set yourself up
for success and try having some wins throughout the week instead.
Listen to 3 Business Owners Get Real (about their
schedule, and other things)
My interview with Lauren and Kara of the Truer Business Podcast is finally out! If you're trying hard to make your schedule work for you, in addition to our Forward Focus Hour, this podcast is a gem. Lauren and Kara want to talk to business owners about what it really takes to build a business that suits your lifestyle, and our conversation got a lot more behind-the-scenes than I was expecting (and I love it!)
Listen in here or wherever you get your podcasts, and I'm confident future episodes will be worth listening too.
Moving to a 3-Day Work-Week
What isn't in that podcast are the conversations I'm having with colleagues about how I'm aiming towards a 3-day work week by the end of 2025. I'm still not 100% sure how I'll get
there, or if I can, but last week I got closer. I've decided to do far less of everything...pretty much no social media, I'm pulling back from the SEO I was working on, and I'll likely even do less writing. I'll still be sending you these Permission Slips, but I won't do as many long-form articles as I have done previously. Those took half a day every Monday to write, so they were an obvious choice to go!
I'll keep you posted because I want to share what really goes on behind-the-scenes to make things like this possible (and the more I share it, the more real it gets!). Not that you should do the same, but if you're interested in making a change to the way you run your business, I want you to know you're not the only one.
Have a wonderful week!
You've got this,
Stephanie Wasylyk