Last night I got a horrible night’s sleep.
I woke up at 12:30 and didn’t fall back asleep until 3 am. What sucks even more was I had to get up super early to take my mom to the hospital for a procedure she was having.
Whenever I get a terrible night’s sleep, I always get curious as to what was happening…
Did I go rogue and have an afternoon cup of coffee?
Am I around my cycle?
Did I eat something that didn’t agree with me?
None of those were true in this case.
But here’s what was true…
I had a meeting during the day with my CFO.
It was ALL great news.
As a matter of fact, he acknowledged that I run one of the most financially efficient businesses that he works with.
While that made me feel like a boss especially considering that’s what I’m here to teach all of you to do, I chose to focus on two other pieces of information…
Last year I didn’t see the growth I expected, and while my January cash received was exactly where I thought it was, I expected to see a greater difference from January 2020 to January 2021.
Immediately my brain went to “you didn’t meet your expectations so you aren’t good enough:
That then triggered me to push back on my coach who wanted me to share a recent result I got for myself and I said I couldn’t because it wasn’t good enough yet.
That then led me to not sleeping because at 12:30 my brain kicked on rehashing the disappointing (to me) growth and my disappointing (to me) January numbers.
I finally fell asleep but when I woke up at the extra early crack of dawn to take my mom to the hospital (she’s fine by the way) I felt beat up.
Since I know I can’t possibly be the only one who was ever up at night because they were rehashing some business results and feeling disappointed I want to step you through some of the choices I made over the next 24 hours.
Choice 1: I acknowledged myself. It sucks to be up all night and then face a day where I had family responsibilities and work responsibilities especially when I wanted to just pull the covers over my head and go back to bed.
Choice 2: I have a tendency to get in a story loop around being tired. It’s actually one of my biggest fears. Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s afraid of being tired? I need to know if this is a thing. Instead, I affirmed that there is more than enough time in the day to rest and recoup my energy.
Choice 3: I committed to making sure I brought my A-game to my evening routine and went to bed BEFORE the second or third wind arrived.
Choice 4: I asked myself what would give me energy right now? I decided that despite being tired, a 30-minute low-impact Peloton ride would shift my energy to a place that was positive, uplifted, and energized. I did NOT do a ride that was a HIIT workout or crazy hills. I kept my heart rate in a zone that felt good. This was about building resiliency for my day, not draining me more.
Choice 5: I sat down and got clear on the FACTS. What kept me up last night were my feelings about an expectation I put on myself and not the actual facts. My growth wasn’t as high as I wanted it to be last year but
- I shut down 2 revenue streams that equated to almost $100,000 in revenue.
- I had three clients cancel contracts with me resulting in a loss of about $40,000 which also resulted in legal fees to address the canceled contracts.
- My energy was up and down for most of the year navigating the pandemic, multiple family crises, remote schooling, and eventually my ADHD diagnosis. I wholeheartedly did the best I could in those moments and I know you did too.
Choice 6: I focused on some additional energy boosters: a quick face mask, I took extra time to make my bed, put on an outfit that made me feel good about myself, diffused some lemon and peppermint essential oil.
Choice 7: Be helpful and human as I processed through my morning. It was actually 8:15 am when I wrote this. I thought it would feel good to share my experience with all of you.
I want to be super transparent: I didn’t feel like doing any of these things. It would have been so easy for me to crawl back under the covers and maybe some mornings that’s what we need. But in the end, I’m happy I was able to gently encourage myself to move forward in a way that was compassionate and consistent with my goals.
Since I started writing this, I met with a client and have come back to finish this off.
She’s a member of my Bold Money Mastermind. I’ve been working with this woman for years and she said to me: “I’ll never forget the time you told someone else that they can be both sad and successful. That those things are mutually exclusive. It was a real shift for me and I always remind myself of that moment.”
Sometimes we get trapped in our all-or-nothing thinking. But really…
You can have feelings and observe the facts.
You can be tired and take steps toward your goals every day.
You can have a rocky start to the day and make a choice to move past it.
You can have moments of self-doubt and shift your energy.
You can be sad and successful.
Takeaways:
The critical things that help me perform at my highest level are often the smallest things. Incremental, tiny choices that compound through the days, weeks, months.
I do what I can.
I rarely push myself or come from pushing/striving energy.
For me, it’s about maintaining equanimity.
I know that isn’t always what you see represented in high-performance spaces or conversations but it’s the truth.
I hope this resonated with you.
Thanks for taking the time to listen.
I appreciate you and I believe in you.
For the last 6 years, I’ve run a profitable business without any debt. We always have enough cash for planned growth and it’s rare that I worry about business.
In essence, my revenue doesn’t cost me much — financially, mentally, or emotionally. This level of efficiency in my business translates to ease in my personal life.
And I want the same for you.
If you’re struggling to set a revenue goal and feeling like you’re picking it out of thin air, you’re going to experience increased stress because you never know what to sell, how much to sell, and how much money do you get to keep when you DO make a sale.
More revenue for more revenue sake is like being on a runaway train with failed brakes.
You’re most likely living in a constant state of adrenaline.
The good news is I have a simple and easy solution to help you gain the clarity you need around your revenue so you can run a profitable business without a lot of debt AND sleep well at night.
