Rise and Grind?

“You can accomplish your goal in a very relaxed, slow, and fun way.” ~ Steve Chandler

A few years ago I came across this Steve Chandler quote and it was like a record scratch sound in my brain.

“Wait, what was that? Relaxed? Slow? Fun? Why am I always tense, stressed, rushed, and definitely not having fun?”

I just couldn’t imagine a way to accomplish everything on my plate in a way that was relaxed, slow, and fun.

Business is fast!

If you go slowly you’ll get run over, your competitors will race past you, and the window of opportunity isn’t open forever.

Plus, client deadlines are real, we can’t just deliver whenever we want to! Have you seen my to-do list? I have to do more.

This is a battle.

And my experience of running my business was more like a battlefield than like a playground. Everything was critically important. Mistakes are not OK.

Sure, one of my core values is Fun; if you’re not having fun you need a day off but there were a lot of days I wasn’t living that!

It’s hard to play in the middle of a war.

Things have changed for me in the last few years,

• I’ve learned that when I take things more slowly, I can find solutions more quickly, with less re-work and miscommunication.
• I no longer live in constant anxiety that was driving the urgency of my to-dos and has relieved stress.
• My vision of fighting a battle has evolved so that I’m playing a game. Keeping things fun and light makes me more creative and gives me more energy.

I’m going to talk more about how I made some of these changes, but first I want to ask, Are you having fun? Is the way you are working making the best use of your energy and creativity?

Hit reply and tell me what’s working, and what’s not working with the way you are working.