Slow Down & Prioritize | 34
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Podcast Description
Do you struggle with adding a lot to your plate? Perhaps you’re like me where sometimes you get frozen because you have all of these different tasks, all of these different projects going on, and you just don’t know what to do.
Well, I’m there right now at the time of recording this episode so I figured why not record an episode and take you a little bit of behind the scenes of where things are at in my business, why I’ve missed the past few episodes, and what I’m doing to ensure that I take care of myself.
In this episode, we are talking about slowing down and prioritizing. If you feel like this is something you might need, or maybe you just need a little bit of permission to be okay with slowing down and not get some things done, this episode is for you.
Links Referenced in this Episode:
▶ Join the Productive Entrepreneurs Club
▶ Listen to episode 10: How To Prevent Burnout as an Entrepreneur (And Why You Should Care)
▶ Submit a question or topic for the podcast
Connect with me:
Episode Transcript
(Note: This is a formatted AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through, but is not an optimized blog post. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)
Episode Intro
Do you struggle with adding a lot to your plate and then you get to this place where you just have no idea what to work on or what to do? You kind of get frozen because you have all of these different tasks, all of these different projects going on, and you just don’t know what to do. Yeah. I feel you.
I’m there right now. At the time of recording this episode, this is where I’m coming from. And so I figured, you know what? Let me go ahead and record an episode and take you a little bit of behind the scenes of where things are out in my business, why I missed the past few episodes, and what I’m doing to ensure that I take care of myself because to be honest, there’s no business without you.
So you need to be able to take care of yourself, despite the fact that you might not be getting the things done that you want to get done. So in this episode, we are talking about slowing down and prioritizing. So if you feel like this is something that you might need, or you might need just a little bit of permission to be okay with slowing down, and not getting some things done, this episode is for you.
Hey, I’m Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I’m on a mission to help online entrepreneurs like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelm goodbye. Here, you’re going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It’s your time to shine so let’s get started!
Time to Slow Down
Hey, hey welcome back to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast. I missed you guys. I have had so much going on with the business and especially after launching the membership, which you know, is just an amazing thing that I am so, so proud of. I’m so happy with it. I needed to step back. I needed to slow down.
And when I was trying to figure out like, okay, now I’ve been gone for like two weeks from the podcast, like, what do I come back and talk about? And yeah, I was like, I should talk about like, exactly what happened with me, because maybe you can relate.
Maybe you can relate to those feelings of where you have these moments where you’re like, go, go, go. You’re doing all these different things. And then you would just need to slow down. You just need to have those moments of like, okay, I need to step back and just be okay with it.
I know that there’s a lot of guilt that comes in. There’s a lot of worry that comes in that your business is going to fail. And then, that you’re not going to read your goals or that you’re going, like, there’s so many thoughts that could possibly go on in your head when you’ve reached moments like this. And so I figured, let me just come on and share about my own experience. Let me loop you in on what’s been going on in the Lucy world over here.
My Road to *Almost* Burnout
Because I know I was posting so much. I was doing all these different things, but I felt like I was creeping up to burnout. Like to be honest, I had a lot going on. And just like I’ve said, I have another episode where I talk about burnout and I talk about helping you avoid burnout, so definitely go check that out.
I felt myself that I was, I could get pretty close. Like I wasn’t really there yet, but I was starting to notice the signs. And so I said, you know what? I have to step back. I have to slow down. I have to prioritize what I’m going to be working on and how my time is going to be spent. Because that is what you need to do whenever you have those moments. You have a lot going on. We all have a lot going on.
But sometimes you put too much on your plate. And I am, honestly, I, too put a lot of things on my plate. I like staying busy. You know, I’ve said busy vs productive, but busy is not a bad thing if you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Right.
And I myself like to stay busy. I am one who doesn’t like to be bored, or doesn’t like too much downtime.. And so whenever I feel like I don’t have a lot of projects, I seem to just add more to my plate because it keeps me constantly busy. And I just, I, ended up putting way too much on my plate. So, let me just share, like what has been going on.
An Update on My Newest Projects
And does get you up to date and get you up to speed with what you can expect to moving forward. Okay.
My New Membership
So, after the membership launched. Like if you have no idea what I’m talking about. You’re like what membership? I recently launched my new membership, the Productive Entrepreneurs Club, you can check it out at cheerstoproductivity.com/club for all of the details on that. But I just launched this membership last month and it’s a membership.
Like it is brand new, so I’m still working on my own systems to really ensure that I am delivering for my members, that I’m getting the content out when I’m supposed to. That I’m talking to them, that I’m engaging. That I am delivering and going above and beyond for my members. Right.
And so I’m trying to do this new thing. And whenever you have a new thing that you’re doing. I don’t know about you, but it takes way more brain power then, you know, once I’ve been running this membership for probably three months, six months, because I’ll kind of become like a routine, but right now I’m figuring it all out. I am figuring it all out and I’m tweaking my processes. So there is a lot going on just with the membership in itself.
An Upcoming Bundle
But on top of that. If you see me, like on Facebook and on Instagram, you know that I have other things going on as well.
So you may have noticed, and if not, then here’s a little spoiler alert, but I have been working behind the scenes on curating my own bundle. So I have. I don’t know if I should say how many right now, but I have so many amazing contributors now locked in for this bundle that’s going to go live in May.
But just like, you know, it’s a bundle with dozens of contributors. So there is a lot of behind the scenes work that is getting put into that project. So that big project on top of the membership.
The 3rd Project (Details Coming Soon)
And then for some reason, I decided I don’t want it to take on a third one. Like three seems to be my magic number. It seems to be a pattern where I always have to have three big projects in order for me to be like, okay, now I need to stop. But I feel like if I have two or one, I feel like I just don’t have enough to do, I don’t know. But it seems to be a pattern. I’m noticing my own pattern. Like three big projects is typically what I like to work on at once.
And I can handle three projects because of all of my systems that I have in place, so that is kinda my own sweet spot. I’m not saying that should be your sweet spot, but as my sweet spot.
So I started a third, big project, which I’m not going to share just yet. I will have more information on that probably in the next one or two episodes. Okay. But I have another big project that I started that’s super exciting.
I needed to get this one in particular done before I dive deeper into the bundle because again, priorities, I have to prioritize my time. So I have these different projects. Right now it’s the membership, right? The membership has taken my priority.
Level Up Your Biz with Trello Update
I also have a task that I’ve been wanting to do, which is that it’s been a year since I launched Level Up Your Biz with Trello.
Like you have heard me talk about this program on the podcast a lot, and it has been a year since I launched it. I can’t believe it. It’s been a year this month, and so I constantly go in there and update it and add new resources.
And so that is another thing that I’m working on right now as well. but that’s like a small project for me. But I needed to get this third project that came out of nowhere. That was like, okay, am I going to do this? Am I going to do this? Yes. Okay. I need to do that. I need to do it now.
Like, I need to get it finished and like I had these different things going on and because of that, I needed to take a step back and be like, okay, well, something has to give like, I need to slow down. I need to figure out what is truly going to take priority of my time right now. And it ended up being those projects.
Pressing on the Brakes
So I did miss a couple episodes. Um, I probably will actually start to cut down these podcasts episode releases for a few weeks. Not for long. Once I have these projects going and I have my routine down and everything, then it’s going to be much easier for me to be able to handle these different tasks.
But for the meantime, I did want to come on and just give you a heads up that I’ll probably be cutting it down to like every other week. If I can do more than I will do more, but that is at least the new plan for the time being, I only anticipate this to last for like a month or two, just to be honest.
But the other thing that I also had to cut back was not just the podcast, but it was the Instagram posting. And that one, I. I have been sitting with longer than what I had hoped, and it is not just because of my time.
It’s also because Instagram went out and did some, brand new algorithm changes that now I’m having to reconsider my current strategy. And while I’m doing that, I don’t want to be posting and just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing if it sticks because like I said, I have a lot going on and so I don’t really want to be spending time just what I normally do, which is video video video, because that’s what Instagram wanted.
And then I have my nine grid static grid on the regular, but now they want more posts again. And I’m like, I really enjoyed not having to create carousels and posts and just keeping my static grid. Like I like it like that.
And so I’ve had to really step back to think about, okay, what am I going to do moving forward? Because, you know, obviously if there is an algorithm change and we as content creators, we want to get seen on the algorithm. Like we don’t want to just post and then not have anyone see it, right. Like we could post all day long, and it’s incredible content, but if no one sees it, then it’s almost like time wasted. And I don’t want that.
So I’m not, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with Instagram yet. I am only just trying to show up on stories when I remember. I am so random at stories. And since it never ,since Instagram has never been like a top priority for me. That’s where we’re at.
So I’ll be randomly posting here and there until I figure out what the heck I’m going to do about Instagram. More than likely I have an, I have an idea of what I’m going to do, but it probably won’t be for another few weeks. So that those are the main two things that I had to like cut down, cut back on a little bit was the podcast and Instagram, because just like I mentioned, there’s some shifts happening in the backend of my business.
Slow Down & Prioritize
There’s some, it’s exciting. Like for me, it’s exciting. I am loving where the business is at. I’m loving where it’s heading. I love the different resources that I’m able to provide to this community. And so right now, I’m in that phase where I am trying to figure out how to balance it all together for myself, because I don’t want to have a large team.
So, because of all of that, like I needed to slow down and really prioritize. And I really just want you to know that that’s okay for you to do sometimes. Like, sometimes that is what you need to do.
If you feel like you have added too much to your plate, or you feel like you have a lot going on, it’s okay to slow down and especially, especially if you feel like you are getting close to that place of burnout, where you’re feeling really tired or your mind just isn’t thinking straight. Like there’s different signs for different people, and it’s important for you to be aware of what those, of what those warning signs are for you. Okay.
And then once you start really being in tune with what those signs are for you, you’ll start to notice the severity of it. I’m like, oh, wait, am I really close to burnout? Or am I just barely getting close to it? Because you really want to stay as far away from it as possible because it will be easier for you to recover or for you to rest up to where you’re like, okay, I’m good. We’re good. Everything’s good around here.
So you really want to be mindful of those things. And if you have to slow down, if you have to put some things on pause for the time being. It’s okay. It is okay. It is so important for you to just prioritize. Prioritize your time, prioritize what actually needs to be done, what actually needs you.
And if in your case, it might be nothing like you just really, like you’ve already reached that place of burnout and you just can’t do anything for a week. That’s fine too. That is okay. Your business will be here. Your business will survive. You will be okay.
So make sure to take time for yourself, slow down and prioritize when you need to. Okay. Don’t don’t. go to that place of feeling guilty or feeling like your business is going to fail.
I know, I know, I know the feeling I’ve been there. I have to talk myself out of those, those talks, those conversations that happen in my head too. But it’s okay. Like, it really is okay. So slow down and prioritize anytime you feel like you need it.
How To Connect With Me
And you can come and talk to me on Instagram. That is where I’m going to, I like to hang out on Instagram when I remember to. When I feel like I have something to post or have a question to ask, or if not, I’ll just be looking at everyone else’s stories. And so that is where I’m going to be at right now.
But if you do want to learn more about all the different ways that I can support you, then go ahead and just head to my website, cheerstoproductivity.com and scroll around.
There is a free quiz that I released not too long ago. There is my membership that is brand new. You can still hop in at the VIP founding members price, you can join us there. And then you can come look at all of the courses that I have available.
Submit a Question or Topic to the Podcast
But the point is if you want to come chat with me, just chat with me. I really love connecting with my community. And I actually have a special request.
As I start to prepare for the next few episodes, as I start to figure out what the next episodes are going to be, I would absolutely love to get your input. I would love to hear from you.
So, if you have a question or you have something that you would love to know my thoughts on, you have anything, just any idea for a podcast episode, even if it’s just a question, then head to cheerstoproductivity.com/podcast-topic. This is where you can submit a question, a topic, an idea or something, anything for me to talk about on the podcast.
I would absolutely love to know. I would love to be able to create a few episodes based on what you want to learn about, based on what you want to know. And actually that would even make it even easier for me to not have to take such a long, it’s not even a break, but it’ll make it easier for me to be able to record weekly episodes because I’m not having to figure it out myself.
I’m just taking what you’re submitting for me and then recording an episode about it. And so if you have anything at the top of your head, or if you have any questions that you want me to answer, anything at all, go ahead and submit it to that form, so that way we can get some new episodes out to you asap.
Episode Wrap-Up
So that is all for you today. I hope that you enjoy this episode and I will talk to you soon. Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me, Lucy Reyes. To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today’s episode, visit cheerstoproductivity.com/34. And before you go make sure you subscribe wherever you’re listening so you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success!
References
Links Referenced in this Episode:
▶ Join the Productive Entrepreneurs Club
▶ Listen to episode 10: How To Prevent Burnout as an Entrepreneur (And Why You Should Care)
▶ Submit a question or topic for the podcast
Don’t miss a single episode so that you can get productive and grow your online biz without overwhelm.
Subscribe to the podcast and tune in every Wednesday:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Podcasts | Pod.link / Pick Another App