The best thing you’ll gain this month isn’t sitting in your bank account
Money’s great.
It keeps the lights on, pays for your caffeine habit, covers the random Amazon impulse purchases you definitely didn’t need but saw in your “More items to consider" section.. And of course… allows you to live.
BUT it’s not cash that’s going to save your sanity.
What IS going to save your sanity is clarity.
Clarity is what helps you breathe and ACTUALLY move forward, not just work non-stop to spin in circles going nowhere (well except in circles).
There’s nothing worse than being slammed ALL DAY and realizing you accomplished nothing important… Nada… zilch. You gave up your entire day… your eyes are blurry, your brain hurts and your “important things to do list” is untouched.
The tricky part is chaos can feel productive. Checking items off your list gives you that little dopamine hit and keeps you buzzing around like you’re doing something important… even when you’re not.
Annnnnd before you know it, you’re frustrated, tired and wondering why everything feels harder than it should (cue burnout.)
And when you get to that point, is the money you’re making really worth it?
I’m not chaotic… I’m just busy
You’re sitting there thinking “I’m just busy and stressed… I’m not chaotic” so first let me start by telling you what I mean by chaos.
Chaos is a state where everything is disordered, disorganized and unpredictable and most days you spend time reacting to whatever happens instead of directing what happens.
Still thinking “she’s not talking about me”? Here’s some things people who live in chaos often say:
I work better under pressure.
I have handled worse.
I will just push through.
I will make it work. I always do.
I have to do this now because she asked for it.
I am the only one who knows how to do this properly.
It is not that bad. I can manage.
I cannot delegate this. It is faster if I do it myself.
I do not need help. I just need more time.
I am fine. I have done this before.
I do not have time to fix it right now.
I will deal with it when it becomes a problem.
I can handle it myself.
I do not want to slow down.
It’s always worked this way, so it’s ok.
It is fine. I am fine. Everything is fine.
I am just busy. It will calm down soon.
Once I finish this project everything will be better.
I will rest when things slow down.
I am fine. I have done this before.
She emailed an hour ago, I have to reply right now.
Running a business is messy, things happen. But it doesn’t have to be messy AND chaotic.
And this is where clarity comes in.
WTF do you mean by clarity?
Great question… let me tell you.
Clarity means knowing exactly what matters, why it matters and what your next step is, so you stop guessing, stop reacting to everything and stop wasting energy on things that don’t move your business forward.
Here’s what people who live with clarity often say:
No, I don’t want to do that, it doesn’t fit my goals.
I’ll respond to that tomorrow, she can wait.
I don’t have the brain power for this today, I’ll move it to tomorrow.
I’m gonna get someone else to do this task.
I don’t feel like working, I’m gonna finish early for the day.
I’ll look at that when I have time to think.
This isn’t urgent, so it can wait.
*Watches phone ring* I’ll call them back later when I’m finished
I’m removing this because it’s unnecessary.
I’m done for today, this can wait until morning.
I wonder if anyone’s tried to reach me while I was focused, let’s check emails now.
Clarity means you’re in charge of your time, when you do things and what things you do. You protect your time, you make decisions for you (not others) and you make them on your terms.
Chaos might still show up, because that is business, but with clarity you stay in the driver’s seat. You decide what gets your attention, when it gets it and how much space it deserves.
Chaos = reactive
Clarity = proactive
Got it, now what
Ok so we’ve established what chaos is (and that you’re most likely chaotic) and we’ve gone over what it looks like when you move from chaos to clarity…
But how…
Relax, I’m going to tell you!
But first I need to make it clear, this is not a quick fix. Things will not all magically be better, but you can start making small changes NOW that will add up and make an impact.
The goal is to shift from REACTING to your day to LEADING your day. You’re in charge!
1. Adjust your notification settings. Stop letting other people decide when they get your attention.
I’m not joking! If someone wants to email you at 7pm, they can…but that doesn’t mean you have to see it! You get to control when people can reach you, not them!
Here’s what my notification settings look like
On my phone
Slack - Off completely (I have to open it to see if there’s a message)
WhatsApp - Clients are muted so I only get notified of personal messages
Instagram - Clients are muted so I only get notified of personal messages
Texts - Clients are muted so I only get notified of personal messages
Emails - OFF. I can check my email if I want but do not get notified (even for personal emails)
ClickUp - OFF. I can check if I want… (but if I’ve left my desk.. I don’t want to…)
Calendar - OFF. I don’t need reminders 15 minutes before a meeting.
Phone calls - Muted - if I’m looking at my phone, you’re in luck. If not… 🤷♀️
On my computer
Slack - I get a little number on the icon on my task bar - no pop ups
WhatsApp - Clients are muted so I only get notified of personal messages (with a little icon… no pop ups)
Instagram - OFF
Texts - Clients are muted so I only get notified of personal messages (with a little icon… no pop ups)
Emails - OFF. I can check my email if I want but do not get notified (even for personal emails)
ClickUp - OFF. ClickUp is how I run my life. I’m in there regularly, I don’t need to be notified.
Calendar - OFF. I don’t need reminders 15 minutes before a meeting. I make sure to review in the morning and pay attention to the clock.
This may seem crazy, but the next tips are how I still stay on top of everything.
2. Prioritize for the day
In the morning (or whenever you start your day), review your calendar so you know what’s coming up. Then review your task list and decide what things you’ll do when. If you like to see things visually, you can block your calendar (just for the day) to see what works.
At this stage it’s very important to know when your brain is the sharpest. Work with yourself not against… map things out based on when you’re actually going to be able to do it. You might not be able to do this right away, so start paying attention to how you feel at certain times.
For me, I save detailed/important tasks for the morning (because I am freshly caffeinated and focused), I leave creative/admin tasks for the afternoon when my energy is a little lower. I don’t schedule calls after 3pm because I’ve usually hit my wall by then.
BONUS TIP: DON'T block your entire life in your calendar. Ok this one might be contoversial…but I stand by it. When you spend time and account for every minute of your life… what happens when you do get an unexpected thing you have to do? Or you’re not in the mood? Or a meeting runs long?
I’ll tell you what happens… you revert back to chaos and spend your entire life moving the time blocks you didn’t get to. Why? Because rigid schedules fall apart the second real life happens, and when your default mode has been chaos, that failure sends you right back into panic mode.
SO, If you do time block, do it in big chunks.
Examples:
Monday mornings are meant for admin and getting ready for the week
Friday mornings are meant for bookkeeping and backend business stuff
If you were capable of time blocking and sticking to it, you wouldn’t be reading this blog… so I promise you… time blocking every minute of your life isn’t going to work… not yet anyways.
3. Leave time to check email/communication between meetings or task blocks
Because of part 1 (no notifications) checking my emails and notifications is part of my task list.
But at this part it is important that you don’t check your notifications if you don’t ACTUALLY have time to deal with anything.
If you have 3 meetings back to back, wait until your meetings are over. Knowing you have an email that you don’t have time to answer, isn’t going to help you on your calls.
Checking messages without the time or brain power to deal with them just creates stress you didn’t need, and a huge part of clarity is avoiding unnecessary stress.
OMG that was a lot, let’s recap
In case your brain tapped out halfway through, here’s the quick version…
You learned that money is great, but not if you’re also chaotic. You learned what chaos actually looks like in your business and that you keep trying to convince yourself you’re just “busy” when you’re actually chaotic. You learned what clarity sounds like, how people who have it think and why their lives feel fifty times easier. And you learned a couple quick ways to get yourself away from reactive chaos into proactive clarity.
And HOPEFULLY you learned that YOU are the one that is in charge of your time, your tasks and your life.
