Hi everyone, its Finola Howard and this is Ask Finola How
episode 44 and this week's real question from a real
entrepreneur is, and it's really appropriate because I'm sitting
here in my camper van, just at the very beginning of my
holidays. And I didn't get everything done that I wanted to
get done before I left. So this – and what I've left to do is
actually record four of these episodes, so that I can have
momentum for all of you while I'm gone. Okay. So appropriately
enough, I'm doing this while I'm on holidays. And this is that
question, okay. I can't stop thinking about my business when
I'm on my holidays. How do you switch off completely and stop
worrying about your business while you're taking a break?
So perfect, that I didn't get to take my break yet. Well, I did
kind of, I've already started. But what I want to share with
you is this, because this is the most the best example, I think,
of answering that question. First, the first thing I would
say to you is a bit of a lead-in from last week's session. And it
is first start by planning to have the break. And this is
comprised of a couple of different things and we
discussed this last week, we said, either choose to get a
complete break and put it out on social media, that you're
stopping all social media, and are not taking client meetings,
you're not doing anything, or choose to plan for it, batch
stuff, bring your team and get them involved, and all of that
so that you keep the momentum going while you're gone. Now, I
did a lot of that stuff. So I planned to keep the momentum
going, to make sure that I would keep my Ask Finola How's in
place, and do all of that. But I didn't get everything done
before I left. Okay. So, you know, I made a deal with myself
that I needed to make sure that there was momentum in all the
things that we were doing. That there was – the podcast would be
released, which it did get released yesterday. It's today,
Tuesday, Tuesday, they're normally released and it was
released. My lovely colleague, Megan is making sure that that
happens. I pre recorded all the podcasts enough that will be
done before I left.
And there was a couple of things missing, a couple of client
things missing and also the recordings of these videos. So
what I decided to do was actually take a morning out and
I talked to my family about this. They're okay with me doing
this because they knew it was important. And I decided to
batch create them from the campervan. So you're getting me
in the camper van, while Sean and Kevin are gone to the pool
and they've given me half an hour to get these done and then
I'll join them in the pool, and then I will be able to switch
off.
So here are my thoughts toay, right. Plan for the break, like
we just discussed. Make a deal with what you're willing and not
willing to do while you're on holidays, that allows you to
switch off. When you start thinking like this – now when I
first started planning the holiday, I was going to do so
much. I was going to do some writing, I wanted to catch up on
my blogs, I wanted to do all of that stuff. But when I actually
sat down and realised: what will that take? So while it sounds
really good on paper, that sure I love to write, which I do, but
this is not a break. So figure out what you're willing to do
and what you are willing to do and your family is happy for you
to do while you're gone and decide, get clarity on whether
that's doable or not. Because when I started to list all the
things that I could do in the mornings, before everyone got
up, I decided it wasn't worth it. So when you plan, do this
planning session of what you're willing to do while you're on
holiday, and what you're not willing to do, you will find
that when you see it in black and white, things change. Your
perception about what are you willing to do actually changes
because you see the reality of it. So it actually made me reach
out and ask Megan to do a little bit more for me, Lenke to do a
little bit more for me, Bren to do a little bit more for me and
I felt better leaving. And it means that when I didn't get
everything done, which I didn't, I needed another half an hour,
40 minutes to record these and that was okay to negotiate with
my family that it's okay that I can take these extra 30 minutes,
because I had negotiated everything else beforehand. And
I'd planned it. So that's my first thing. Take two weeks
before you take your holidays, and plan what you're willing to
do. And be clear with all of your clients, what you're
willing to do and what you're not willing to do. And allow
yourself to schedule out stuff to happen when you get back. And
that's also a very powerful thing, to have things to do when
you get back. Okay, so that's my first thing for you.
My second thing, as I look at my notes, okay, oh yeah, this is
the thing that I wanted to say to you. Breaking with the
everyday leaves space for new thinking and when you want to
create a successful business, where you have to make
significant changes at key points in the growth of the
business, your brain needs to think differently. And the only
way of thinking differently is to switch it off from its
everyday reality. And holidays are the perfect time to switch
off from the everyday reality. It allows your brain to rest,
allows you to see life and the world in a different way, allows
you to listen to other voices around you, your family, your
friends. Just joking around in a swimming pool can just give your
brain that rest it needs to start thinking in a new way. So
you need that switch off. It's part of your key ingredients for
success. So embrace it, okay? Also, I kind of want to say to
you, being a workaholic is not my definition of success. You
know, what I've seen? You know, that question always has to be
asked is, What is it is you want out of the business, and what
are you willing to do to make it happen?
And my definition of success is about harmony, balance, whatever
you want to call it, but I am many things to many people in my
life. So I am something to my clients, I'm something to the
participants on Get Strategic. I'm something to my son, I'm
something to Kevin. I'm something to all of these
people. And I want those parts of myself to be fulfilled in all
parts of it. They're part of my own success equation. So my work
life is not my only life, it's part of my life. So the switch
off and switching on to the other parts of yourself, the
other parts of your life are really, really critical here.
And for me, that's my definition of success. I want to be in the
moment in every part that I play and role that I play in my own
life. And so switching off is that idea of
compartmentalisation of knowing who you are in that moment and
being fully present in that moment for that role. For that
part of yourself that you love. You know, I mean, I love being a
mother, I love being a partner and love being an entrepreneur,
I love being a female entrepreneur. And I have to give
adequate time to each. That's my definition of success. So it's,
what's yours? That's my question.
Set intention, my last one for you, because I want this to be
quick, because I want to go to the pool so I can actually
switch off. Set intention to switch off and it will happen,
make it your intention. I consciously did that this year,
I may have had a blip in it that means that I have to do these
things now. But the rest of my months holidays will be around
what I agreed with myself that I would do. So set the intention.
I'll also share this with you, I am taking a couple of client
meetings while I'm away because they are on an agreed trajectory
and I didn't want to leave them waiting for a month before they
got to talk to me. So that was within my own commitment to
myself and my commitment to my clients. And that's okay too.
But the rest of the time, that's mine. And because I set those
boundaries and that I'm very clear about what I expected of
myself, and was very clear with my clients of what was going to
happen in this period, it will work smoothly and I will feel
happy going into the pool now and switching off until my next
event, which is in two weeks time.
So have a great day and have a great holiday. I really hope you
enjoy it. It's so important because I'm going to be ready
for action when I get back in a month and I hope you are too.
This has been Ask Finola How and this has been episode 44 and it
was all about holiday prep and switching off. Have a great day.
Take care, and I'll see you next week. And yes, it will be
recording. Take care.