How To Do Less In Your Business

Today is going to feel a little counterintuitive but I'm feeling a little sassy. But I know this topic is going to be extremely productive for you! It’s hilarious because this is the Get Shit Done podcast, but the main subject matter we're covering today is how to do less. 

I am obsessed with this concept because I think it's so important, and I'm feeling the pressure to figure this out now more than ever. 

I’ve been inspired by the conversation due to a few things that have happened recently in my own business. I’ve learned from it and I'm hoping my takeaways will be helpful for you too. You can use my experiences as a self-filter if you will, which might be helpful in implementing into your own business. At least, that is my intention here. 

Why I Believe Doing Less Matters

But first, let’s start with why this even matters in the first place. Why is this conversation happening? Well, I, Kelsey, love to work and do it too much. I have multiple stories of burnout, one famous one being when I was in the salon and fainted on the job. 

Another form of burnout that I don't talk about very often is all of these communities that I have helped build. I had come to a place where there would be a week-long period where I had in-person workshops I was facilitating every month. It would be about three days within the same week that were extremely teaching-heavy. 

Monday would be client meetings and a workshop at night. Tuesday would be client meetings and a workshop in the afternoon. Wednesday's dead. Thursdays client meetings. Friday was more workshops in the afternoon and then scrambling on the weekend to catch up. 

I didn't realize this cycle is happening. Every other week, I felt like I would get into this good routine and flow. But that specific week of the month, I always would just be shooting from the hip. It's like every little inkling of a routine that existed went out the window. I finally had to pause and ask, Why is this happening?

I learned some things about myself in that pausing. I realized that I love people. I love teaching, but it does take a lot out of me. But this is recent stuff. The salon story is safe to tell. I have no problem telling it because there's a distance between when that happened and today. 

Even though today I have some pretty solid routines and am feeling pretty good –I still have these moments where I'll just slip into this hyper productivity state and I'm suddenly paying the price the next day. I don't want that anymore. So it's something I've been working through. 

Personally, I’ve been tracking my cycle more and paying attention to when I have different levels of energy. I actually feel that motivation and inspiration kick in at a higher level and decrease at a significant level. So I'm trying to pay attention to all that stuff. 

In response, I’ve recently shifted two things. One, I crashed and burned one of my in-person events I was teaching. I totally paused it. It doesn't mean that offer is going away but I had to really check myself because I was not giving my best self to these people who really deserved it. And that didn't feel right to me. So I took something off my plate.

I tell you this specifically because when I'm meeting clients and we're going through that onboarding process, the beginning stages of working together, I often notice they're obsessed with getting shit done. They think they must do this thing, this thing, this thing, this thing. But 9 times out of 10, what they actually really need to do is less. More of the right stuff, and less of just stuff. 

How To Find A Rhythm & Balance In Your Business

Another thing I did that was so helpful is that week when I have a lot of group interaction because I'm coaching or facilitating a lot of stuff. What I chose to do is actually plug in a day during that week where I batch content. I actually, old school, printed off a calendar and mapped out content for the next month. And that is what I do during that week, usually on a Wednesday. I spend that whole day after a pretty meeting heavy group activity/heavy day and I'm just quiet, and I'm with myself and I'm doing something creative. 

This is so helpful for me because a) I don't have to worry about getting content out there later and b) it's a way I can recoup from the emotional, social exhaustion I feel while still having progress. I feel productive on that day. Even though I'm scheduling posts in my pajamas, it's the best. 

If you find yourself in a rhythm in your business where you have maybe a couple of days in a row where it's super social or super physically demanding, plan out the next day to do more admin tasks that need to get done in your business and that you don't have to shower and put makeup on for. 

For me, that's planning out social media. So that's something I learned. It was super helpful and maybe it's a little nugget you can take and apply it to your processes. It's been game-changing for me. I think that awareness of knowing that during those weeks, my routines are going to be extremely tested. I also block off time to eat lunch. I block off time to get from A to B so I’m not stressed about running late. 

Sometimes I meet with a lot of people and I feel like I didn't quote unquote, do anything. But that’s what people pay me to do is meet, strategize and help them execute in their business. Therefore, I need to prioritize those meetings, and I need to be able to show up as my best self. 

Create Systems That Reflect When You Work Best

So those are some things I've done recently just to help stop this severe up and down social illness of my business. Combined with the dips, where I feel unmotivated, I've learned to ride the wave or create some better systems and know what activities work best and when. This means when I'm in meeting mode, I just keep on going. Same with podcast mode. Right now, I could sit here and batch out episode after episode after episode, this is my third recording this day. I work better that way. 

I think it's important to know how you work best and set up your schedule in a way that supports you and how you work. It's important to set yourself up for success by working how you work best. 

On the days where I have meetings, I would rather have a bunch of back to backs, maybe some breaks in between. But I would rather just wear that one hat and then have a different day where it's an admin day. 

We're talking about doing less, not more. 

Why You Should Pause & Audit Your To-Do List

Are you the person who loves a good to-do list? I love a good to-do list. I love crossing stuff off. Is that list is forever going? I asked this question because I think sometimes we get so obsessed with just doing stuff and feeling productive that we don't stop to actually pause and ask ourselves, do I actually need to do that thing yes or no?

It's important to know that for yourself, and you don't know unless you pause and audit your list.

You are like a battery. Meaning, you operate better when you were starting off from a fully plugged in state at 100%. If you don't get good rest, if you are thirsty, if you are hungry, if you are anxious, tired, have a headache, have tension in your neck, your body hurts, it's hard for you to do your job, whatever your job is, if you're not operating at 100%, you're operating at a disadvantage. That doesn't mean you have to be perfect. I just mean that your self-care should be that important. That should actually take priority over that to-do list. If you need to write down drink water, so you can cross it off your list then do that. 

So often we get so obsessed with, quote unquote, getting shit done. We get obsessed with completing these to-do lists. At the end of the day, you get 20 things done, but how many of them did you actually really have to do? It feels productive, but it might not be. You might be just spinning your wheels. So go through and audit that to-do list. Go through and look at it. 

I recently did this awesome workshop with one of my clients and her team. It's inspired by Mike Michalowicz book Clockwork, which was sent to me by my business coach from 2020 and sat on my shelf for a year before I opened it. But once I read it, I was like, Oh, this is why she sent this book. Shout out, Melissa, thank you. But this book changed things for me. It's still changing things for me. 

What we did in this workshop, we literally wrote down all the different tasks they do in this business, every single task from client consultation to paying invoices to sending proposals. All those tasks were on sticky notes. We had them all spread out around us and then created a pipeline of what is the most important to what is the least important. If nothing else gets done but these first five tasks, you have a business, right? And it was incredibly hard. But what was so cool about it is at the very, very bottom of the list, guess what was down there? Taking photos of work, social media, content creation. It doesn't mean to not do those things. But what it does do is it provides perspective on what really matters in your business. 

So back to the question of what's on your to do list. Maybe go through and write down all the different tasks you do in your business and do an audit. Realistically, what has to happen to move the needle forward? For me, the best use of my time is meeting with people. If I could just focus on meeting with my clients and meeting with potential clients and nothing else, then I would have a good business. I do have a good business. 

But I've had to recently come to this realization that really, it can be that simple. Which means all the other admin stuff, the email, follow-ups, the scheduling of those people, the follow up after that meeting with that person, I have to trust someone to do that for me, or I have to do it myself. Those are my options. That's it. 

It's important to have that clarity on what to focus your time and energy on and knowing what is that core activity in business, that you almost have to protect and wrap a bubble around, and then what things help foster that activity. For me, things like this podcast, my social media, my Facebook community, the Get Shit Done Club, that's where all of that comes in. Because at the end of the day, all of these things lead to maybe somebody listening to this, watching this, saying, hey,I actually would like to get Kelsey’s perspective on this. Maybe I'll have a coffee with her. All of those tasks protect that one core activity. 

So you can see how it creates this ecosystem, this clarity of where to focus your time and energy. And not enough of us do that. I think we’re just like, oh my gosh, TikTok, Pinterest, I need to get back to that email. So and so wants me to come do a pop up shop so I am going to help them design a sticker. So and so wants me to come speak. All of a sudden, we're committing to all these different things –but what is actually serving you and your business?

That entire tangent, that entire rant is to get you to audit your to-do list just to make sure the right stuff is on there. 

Don’t Keep Going If It Costs You Tomorrow

I have a really good story to share with you about how to know what to do with this do-less attitude. It's actually inspired by this group I'm a part of. We were just having a group call about what's going well, what's not going well. One person was talking about how she was on this burnout cycle where she'd have days where she felt hyper productive. She used the words, hyper productivity to burnout. She would have days where she just gets a lot done and days where she couldn't do anything. Instead of trying to force her to pick herself up on those days, she couldn't do anything. 

So I asked the question, those days where you feel invincible, and you're just like, go go go before you do that last thing, don't.

The analogy I gave to the story probably comes from my grandma’s generation because back then people would wear a lot more jewelry than they do now. But there is this saying that before you walk out the door, you look in the mirror and take one piece of jewelry off so as not to have too much going on. It's that same concept but applying it to business. 

On those days, you're feeling really good and productive. You don't have to keep going. Because if you do keep going, it's going to cost you tomorrow. And if it costs you tomorrow, that just sets you backwards. It's two steps forward, one step back, and it's not worth it. This is something I struggle with too because there are days where I'm just like in flow and all of a sudden it's 9pm and I'm go go go. No, the hardest days for me are actually the days where I want to keep going and I have to tell myself to stop. But I'm always grateful the next day because I'm even if I'm not feeling my best self the next day, say I have cramps or say I woke up with a headache or just didn't sleep well. Even if I'm not optimal, I'm still productive rather than having hybrid productivity and then burn cycle. It doesn't mean I don't rest. I'm just saying, catch yourself before that can even be a possibility. I think that's extremely important.

Growing Bigger Often Comes With Bigger Responsibility

Another story I want to share with you about this do less attitude is inspired by some recent businesses that I've been working with that are actually bigger, multi six, multi seven figure entrepreneurs. 

I think there's this misconception that a certain quote unquote, level of business success that someone has in business, that they have it just all figured out, and their life gets easier. It's funny because I actually think it gets harder. But people have this romanticized idea of like, once I can hire for x position, or once I have X number of revenue, when I know my bills are paid, everything's going to be amazing and awesome. And it's just not true. Because every new level you hit, it's a new level, new devil. There's new challenges. The things you know how to do only got you to a certain level, and then now you're on this next level. 

What does that mean? It means you now need new tools, and you don't have them. So it's like you're an infant again, but you're playing in this adult pool. It's hard. I'm seeing it firsthand. As you grow bigger and you have a team, not only are you letting yourself down, you're letting your team down, and they're relying on you. I think that's something people don't think about. 

So that's why taking great care of yourself, setting yourself up for success to lead effectively is important. A lot of that starts with having really good systems in place. Having that self care in place, having that clarity of where you're going. If you can figure that out as a complete solopreneur, it gets easier to bring on those contractors. And once you have those contractors, and then you have w2 employees, then it gets easier to bring them on and so on and so forth. 

The bigger businesses are not only risking the potential of letting themselves down, say they had like a really shitty week. It doesn't just affect them, it affects their team and how their team interacts with clients. So they have even more reason to take better care of themselves than ever.

On the flip side, that can also be extremely motivating, but it's scary. What if revenue is not there? What if you have a terrible month? What if you aren't in the black? What if you can't afford to pay your people but you need your people? Well, what is your job as a boss? It's to inspire and motivate and encourage. You have the right people in the right seats all facing the same direction.

Once you have a larger team, you are sitting in the bus. Also, rarely are you rowing the boat. You're usually the Captain, you're the one with the map, you're the one with the telescope thing, you're the one dictating the direction of the ship. So if you don't know those things, and you can't communicate that to your team, then people are rowing but no one is in sync so you're not going anywhere, and it's costing you money. 

Why Simplicity Is The Key To Scaling A Successful Business

So don't let that misconception fool you. Whether you're a team of none or many, you must take care of yourself. And that comes with simplicity. I know that feels a little counterproductive. But I'm just in this season of simplicity. Get clear on where your time is best spent. 

Another thing to think about when you have a team is not only do you have to take care of yourself because you don't want your team who relies on you to be anxious, nervous, overwhelmed, and unsure. You also need them to perform their best. So if they see you taking great care of yourself, they're gonna copy that behavior and that's going to become a part of the company culture. If they see you prioritizing self care, and really making that a priority and the way that you show up for them, then it's gonna inspire them to show up for each other and for their clients that way, and that's what you want. 

I share this topic to hopefully get you to really think about productivity in a different way. I'm all about getting stuff done. I'm all about the execution of goals. I'm all about just being really intentional and efficient. But I also think there are some lessons in keeping it simple. And doing less. That should not go unnoticed as well. 

Feeling At Peace In The Season Of Simplicity

A great final story I'll share with you is that I'm getting married next month, almost to the day. And I completely changed my entire calendar. After we got engaged actually, within the last couple of months, I completely changed my entire calendar for the rest of the year to make room to just be. I am in a season of simplicity. I have cut back offers. I've even taken things off my website. 

So really, if you want to work with me, you can come to one of my networking events. You can come to my free online community where I do live trainings every Wednesday at 9am. It's called The Get Shit Done Club on Facebook, where you can reach out to see if I have capacity for one on one clients. And that's it. I have other stuff in the works and things that will come after the wedding. 

But I am truly in my season of simplicity. And I feel at peace. I want that for you too. In a time where it can potentially be extremely stressful and I can be overwhelmed –I don't feel that. It's because I am honoring this peace. I am having the clarity of where to put my time and energy and focus. I know that activity of those core functions within my business, I know where my time is best spent. I know where to focus my energy on and anytime I get distracted, it's usually because I'm focusing on something further down on the list. I'm learning to trust better. It's hard, but I am. I hope you realize that you need that time and space to focus on you as well. Instead of getting shit done, I encourage you to do less.

In fact, that is what I'm going to be teaching in Baja in March 2024 with my friend Karina. We have a few spots left. So if you are a business owner, if you are wanting to find this peace and work less, come! We're also going to be doing some yoga and mindfulness and motivational stuff. I can't even explain how amazing this workshop is. It's six days long. We all stay together. It's amazing. I highly encourage you to apply to see if you would be a fit for this offer. trueadventure collective.com/business-retreat

I would absolutely love for you to apply. If you apply and come from this podcast, let us know in the application so that way we can give you a special shout out. But that's exactly the topic I plan on teaching at the retreat, and I cannot wait. I am so excited. I hope you have an awesome week.