12 Simple ways to celebrate yourself without spending a dime
The antidote to being exhausted: Celebrate yourself
You're working extremely hard to make your goals and dreams happen.
Even though you love what you do, you're exhausted.
You're often hard on yourself because you feel like you should be further ahead or doing more.
When someone says, “Take a break,” you don't even know what you would even do with that break.
If you’re feeling any of these things I just listed above…I see and hear you.
You are working really hard trying to do what you might feel is enough, but is really the job of like 5 people.
In this blog, I'm going to share with you why celebrating yourself is so important and some ideas on how to reward yourself so you can stop downplaying your strengths and achievements, and feel your best.
It's time to celebrate how amazing you already are!
Why celebrating yourself is key to success
We live in such a fast-paced society, and we are taught from when we're kids in school all the way until we retire to get as much stuff done as we possibly can. When we care more about the number of tasks done, it’s easy to minimize what gets done and our efforts. That's why the conversation around burnout has become so loud.
When you only think about what's next, your goals, and the future, you deplete yourself.
When you’re depleted you’re not your best. It’s difficult to be productive, creative, and thoughtful when you’re drained.
How do you remedy this?
Since you’re here, you can guess: Celebrating yourself.
When you celebrate yourself for the things you do get done, you’ll have more energy, motivation, and momentum allowing you to achieve your goals much faster (and easier).
When you reward yourself, you're building your self-accountability muscle helping you follow through easier and procrastinate less.
When you pause and acknowledge yourself, your confidence and self-worth grow.
The result? Feeling fulfilled and content.
How to reward yourself without spending a dime
One common misconception I hear is that people believe they must spend money on themselves in order to celebrate and reward themselves. They think of going to a spa, going out to a fancy dinner, going online shopping, or even going to a store.
What happens when you don’t have the extra funds or time in your budget to do those things? You feel like you can’t celebrate yourself.
While there's nothing wrong with spending money on yourself, it’s extremely important to me to make acknowledging yourself more accessible.
Here we go!
1. Pat yourself on the back
Literally. In the past when I’ve finished a small task, I will pat myself on the back, give myself a high five, or someone else who’s around me. (Usually my husband)
2. Be your own cheerleader
Stand up and celebrate, cheer, shimmy, dance, or do anything that feels really good to just give yourself that energy.
3. Verbalize it
You can verbally tell yourself, “good job,” “way to go!” “hell yeah, (insert your name)” out loud or in your head. You can say anything that feels good and celebratory.
4. Share it with someone (or yourself)
Text or call a loved one to share something that you are proud of yourself for doing. You can also just write it down on a piece of paper.
I used to use my paper planner as a have-done list, where instead of all the things I wanted to get done, I wrote down everything I did.
5. The beloved bath
Take a luxurious celebratory bubble bath, of course, if you have a bathtub. Think: How can I make this bath feel like a luxury spa treatment? Oils, candles, music, tech-free, flowers, herbs.
6. Pick yourself a wildflower bouquet
Go for a walk, pick flowers and bring a little flower wildflower bouquet home to yourself.
7. Soak in nature
Grab a blanket, lay outside, cloud watch, and enjoy the weather. If it’s not sunny, run around in the rain.
8. At-home spa day
Take inventory of the things you already have at home that would make a nice at-home spa day (also, see the beloved bath above). You could: Paint your nails, give yourself a facial, and if you have one willing, get a partner to give you a massage.
9. Look in a mirror
Check yourself out in a mirror and say something meaningful or silly: “You go!!!” or “Damn, I'm fine!”
10. Have fun in the kitchen
If you like baking or cooking… check your inventory and bake something that you’re in the mood for.
11. Pass it forward
Being of service is one of those things that feels really good to my soul while making a difference in my community. Volunteer or give back to an organization you care about.
12. Permission to be “lazy”
Give yourself some guilt-free trash TV Netflix, scrolling Insta/Tik Tok time, or a delicious nap. Taking time off might feel extra challenging, read more about why you feel guilty here.
Wondering which idea to pick, or didn’t find something for you?
You can come up with your own way to celebrate yourself because the ideas are truly endless.
Pause, tune out the noise, and ask yourself, “What would feel joyful, energized, and really good to my soul?”
That’s your answer!
Once you have an idea of what feels good to you, open a note on your phone or take out a post-it note at your desk and write them down to easily come back to.
Caution! It can be easy to fall into the trap of toxic productivity with your rewards.
A lot of time, people think, “I want to clean the house, I want to weed the garden, etc.” While those are amazing to get done… Does your inner self really want to do the dishes? Go outside and mulch? Maybe! So make sure to check in with yourself first.
When (and how to actually) celebrate yourself
Another common misconception is that you have to wait until the very end of your project. For example, if you're building a website, it took me months and months and months to build my website and I felt like I couldn't celebrate myself until the entire big website was launched and ready to go.
That's not true! You don't have to wait until the end of big projects. In fact, the more you celebrate the small milestones, the more motivated and energized you’ll be.
Celebrating yourself can be a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, or intuitive practice.
In terms.of making sure I actually celebrate myself, I schedule time in my calendar. At the end of each day, I have an event to review what I did as well as at the end of each week to do a more thorough review.
So I’m curious: What frequency would feel appropriate to you? How might you make celebrating yourself a priority?
Let me know in the comments below!
Want to feel more confident, in control, and at peace with your time? Click here to get free + supportive resources!
How to achieve your goals and feel well-rested (yes, it's possible!)
It feels extremely counter-productive to focus on rest and health FIRST, then our to-do lists.
We’ve been taught to get everything done, and then we can take a break.
What happens when it’s literally impossible to get everything done? Cause that’s the truth. You will never get everything done.
We stay exhausted, running on a treadmill of tasks hoping for one day when we can breathe.
That’s where traditional time management extremely suffers, and holistic time management excels.
When you put yourself first, like legit first, and everything else after… achieving your goals and feeling well-rested becomes a reality.
Finally!
Find out how Kirsten was able to put herself first while accomplishing even more than she set out to in our 3-months working together.
Since this post is more of a case study than a how-to, don’t miss the coaching questions at the end of this post to apply Kirsten’s wisdom and transformation to your life and business.
Tell us who you are and what you do.
Kirsten Welge, Founder/Director of Natural Awareness, LLC
What was achieving your personal and professional goals like before you began working with me?
After leaving my corporate healthcare manager position of 5 years for a 6 month 'sabbatical', I was struggling to set a daily routine that helped me complete deeply important goals AND left me feeling well-rested.
I relied on deadlines and a buildup of external and internal pressure to move me - which didn't translate well to cleaning the home or completing other "maintenance behaviors" necessary for life to run smoothly.
What did you love about having me as your holistic time coach?
Your check-ins strongly supported accountability.
Mindful breathing to start our sessions.
Experiencing your presence – you're gentle and accepting, which helped me to soften my approach to myself.
The invitations to try things out and see how they worked for me (like bedtime rituals).
Your approach to time management and the calendar make-over!!! <3 That was life-changing.
What has happened in your life or business since we worked together?
In my life…
I realized my body does cue me when it's tired -- and I am practicing setting a rhythm to settle towards a regular sleep time of 9-9:30 PM. (A far cry from working until 3 AM!!)
I began to listen more to my body, and nap when it asks me for rest. I feel more refreshed and relaxed.
I accepted that I am not a robot that can produce indefinitely at the same rate, regardless of feelings or circumstances.
I donated a trunk full of bags of items to Goodwill, and donated another 40 pieces of business clothes (suits, pants, jackets, shells, blouses) to a local group that sets up low-income women with interview & business clothing.
I cleared the main floor space of our home - AND KEPT IT CLEAN with maintenance of 5-10 min every evening. WOW! ...and this led to a huge breakthrough and more trust with my partner. Thank you!
I cleared a space in the basement for my "recording studio" for a national talk.
I prepared and delivered a national talk to my aikido federation on why I train, and how our training can be applied in daily life.
I completed a series of biweekly bike rides (including time trials, hill climbs, and gravel rides I'd never done before) on 10-40k+ routes from June-August.
I developed muscles and speed I have never had before.
I completed a 10-day solo Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness trip, with portaging (never done before), and found greater clarity and trust in my mind-body than ever before. I had no regrets whatsoever about spending that time alone.
In my business…
I opened up to being OK with not producing an income with every action I took.
I worked through anxiety about comparing myself to how others did things.
I worked through anxiety & resistance about offering certain classes, made clear, confident decisions, and experienced greater ease and alignment.
For Q4, I reduced my number of quarterly goals to THREE, from more than 8... and am seeing progress on those three fronts, instead of feeling like a hamster trying to spin multiple wheels. Awesome!!
Thanks to your calendar makeover, I now have large time blocks for focusing on a particular group of tasks. This is SO helpful!
And, I've built in time for daily activities to settle me and connect me to my partner and friends, which often fell to the wayside in the past.
I filed for my LLC!!!
And, I finally put together a site for my business and flier for my first program, Track Your Backyard! I have learned so much and now have a functioning website. AWESOME.
What do you think made those things (listed above) possible in just 3 months of working together?
Focusing on rest and health first.
When I'm rested, I have a greater awareness of myself and what's needed, short- and long-term - and I am more efficient and effective at completing what's needed.
Boom. ^That’s the key right there.
But how?! How do we make this massive shift in how we manage and think about time?
Here are some coaching questions for you to think through:
How might you put yourself first, and everything else second (or later)?
What might be keeping you from being able to do that?
What is your next best step forward?
Want to achieve all your deeply meaningful goals without feeling exhausted and overwhelmed?
Let’s make it happen! Click here to schedule a no-pressure consult call now.
10 Powerful mindset shifts to revolutionize how you spend your time and money
“How do I take more time off without impacting my revenue and income?“
If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, you’re in the right place.
Dave, from Turning Point Financial Life Planning, joins me for an in-depth interview about the real and deep connection between time and money.
You will walk away with:
Tangible language around the relationship between the two and why our resources always seem to be in opposition.
Clarity on what you can and can’t control when it comes to your time and money.
How holistic financial planning and time management is the key to finding your unique balance.
Tools we use to create time and money abundance in our lives and businesses.
How do you see the connection between time and money?
Dave
There is of course a relationship between time and money. We use time to earn money. We use money to buy ourselves time.
But what’s most striking to me about both time and money - is how many of us have a relationship with both time and money which is defined by scarcity.
There’s never enough time. There’s never enough money.
But what’s interesting is that while our immediate time and money resources often feel exceptionally constrained, we often assume that time and money resources will be more abundant in the future.
These beliefs might sound something like: I can’t save for retirement right now, but I’m sure it’ll all work out. I don’t have time to rest and recuperate right now, but as soon as I [insert goal here] I’ll be able to.
The trick is, of course, that all we ever have is the present moment.
How you are — and how you think — in the present moment is quite likely how you will be and how you’ll think in future present moments.
So what to do? We train ourselves to think, and relate, differently to money and time.
I believe this retraining begins with a deep reflection on who you are and what you want. What is important to you? How do you want to be leading your life?
Answering these questions is hard work. And it isn’t easy.
Aligning your use of time and money with a deeply meaningful and fulfilling experience of living is not a quick fix. It is a life-long practice.
But it’s incredibly rewarding and worthwhile.
Becca
Time and money are tools that societies have developed with the intention to help us live more collaboratively. The main difference between them though is money is completely invented by humans, while time is inherently natural–the sun rising and setting every day, standardized and commoditized.
Just like any other tool, both time and money can be used in a healthy and beneficial way on a collective and individual level, or in a corrupt and scarce way.
When an individual has enough time and money, most people would say they have a good quality of life. Almost everyone I work with as a time coach, as well as myself personally, is aiming for this sweet spot. Also, when an organization uses its time and money in a healthy way, they are able to make a positive difference in the lives they impact and one would most likely say that is the definition of success.
How often is this sufficient sweet spot achieved (or even noticed), individually or collectively? Rarely, unfortunately.
Why? I believe this for two main reasons.
The complex relationship that exists between us and the two.
Time and money are deeply intertwined: How we spend our time, impacts the amount of money we have. Likewise, how we spend our money, impacts the amount of time we have. Often the more we have, the more we’re able to create.
How each of us experience, use, and feel about both time and money are impacted by who we are as humans, our experiences, and our outlook on the world.Corruption and scarcity.
There’s a lot that can be said about why, how, and where. But if I had to summarize it: Our economic system, as we know it, is completely dependent on how much of our time (human life) can be bought as cheaply as possible to turn into a profit. This has created a society that is individualistic, and competitive and highlights a scarce relationship when it comes to our time and money.
Over the years, we’ve been taught to equate our influence and worth as humans with how much money or time we have. When one doesn’t have or doesn’t feel like they have, enough money, time, or both, there is often a felt sense of failure.
What can I control when it comes to time/money?
Dave
I have good news and bad news.
The BAD news is that you can control virtually nothing when it comes to time, money (or anything else in life).
The GOOD news is that you can control virtually nothing when it comes to time, money (or anything else in life).
Much as we might try and resist this inconvenient fact, we have the ability to control only two things: our attention and our actions.
That’s it. Your attention and your actions. That’s all you’ve got. What are you paying attention to right now? You can control where you direct that attention. What action are you taking right now? You can control that action.
But there’s a catch! (Isn’t there always a catch?) You can only control your attention and actions IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.
Literally, everything other than your current-moment actions and attention is outside of your control.
But this is actually good news - it can be a relief to recognize we can only do what we can do - and we can let go of trying to control the rest.
There is SO MUCH in your financial life that’s out of your control. Pretty much everything! That’s ok. You can let that go.
And then… let’s focus on where you can direct your attention… and what intentional actions you can perform to begin your journey to financial health and wholeness.
Becca
There’s a lot out there we don’t have control over in our world. However, because money and time are human constructs, I believe we have control of quite a bit.
We have control over:
What we do with the time and money we have. We get to vote with our minutes and dollars for the kind of world we want to see.
How we think and feel about time and money.
How much is enough in our lives.
I also know the overwhelm or apathy that can set in when thinking about how big and messy the world is can melt away when we focus on what we do have control over. How might you focus on what you have control over?
What is holistic financial planning?
Holistic financial planning takes care of you as a whole human being. It doesn’t impose unrealistic budgets (or any other unrealistic constraints) upon you, because it incorporates your humanity.
The whole point of financial planning is to build a better life for you as you actually are - not as you (or anyone else) thinks you should be.
Holistic financial planning begins with you and your life. What do you want your experience of living to be like? What do you want to spend your time doing? How much do you want to work? Beyond work, what else do you need time, money and energy for?
Holistic financial planning includes working to let go of productivity as self-worth (thank you, Brené Brown). We then intentionally structure meaningful and financially rewarding work as one part of your overall life plan.
Once we’ve thoughtfully defined the life you want, we get about the work of structuring your financial resources to support that great life. That is actually the easy part!
Sure, there are things to learn and work to do, but the hardest work is getting clear about your vision for your life. Don’t worry - I’ve got some tools to help you bring some clarity and definition to your great life. If you’d like, you can get a sneak preview here.
What is holistic time management?
There are millions of blog posts, articles, podcast episodes, and books out there giving advice on time management and productivity. However, even with all the advice out there, how many people truly feel like they have enough time and are able to spend their time how they want to?
Millions of people. Why?
Regular ol’ time management has one main goal: Be more productive and efficient at work. With the general undertone or implication to make more money, oftentimes for your company or boss. Traditional time management and productivity gurus say to be more productive at work and get everything done first to earn, self-care, rest, or time-off.
But we know that to-do lists never end and believing we can work really hard to get ahead only leads to stress, overwhelm, burnout, and often less money or success. That’s where holistic time management comes in.
Holistic time management’s one main goal is: Spend your time in a way that makes you healthy and fulfilled today.
The assumption in traditional time management is flipped on its head and says you can get everything done easier and achieve everything you want when you prioritize your well-being first. Because when you’re well-rested, healthy, happy, energized, and taken care of…time becomes abundant.
If you had to pick one tool to share, which do you think is most impactful?
Dave
Engaging with your money stuff and structuring your financial life - whether you hire someone like me to help you build a holistic financial plan - is NOT a one-and-done project. Rather, navigating our money is an ongoing practice.
For that reason, I believe that cultivating a consistent practice of engaging with your money and your finances is the single most powerful tool out there. Especially as a small business owner, you have myriad financial tasks to execute and money matters to contemplate.
For (almost) everyone I suggest the practice of a weekly “money date.” The money date isn’t an original idea, but I sorta have my own take on it. You can hear me speak in greater detail about the money date here.
The core of a money date is a weekly, scheduled time for you to sit with your money stuff — and see what comes up.
This isn’t a time to actually accomplish anything. Rather, it’s a time to simply be present, to bring your awareness to some financial matter. And be curious about what you discover. Curious about the external details. And curious about what internal, emotional responses and bodily sensations arise within you.
We engage to make better friends with our emotional responses, especially those which are a bit more challenging to hold (like fear, anxiety, or worry). By holding this space for exploration, your next, empowering money steps will begin to reveal themselves.
Becca
You!
There is so much pressure, information, and noise out there telling us how to best organize and spend our time. There are a ton of tools… and I believe they all can work.
The real tool is who you are, your core values, and what makes you tick. You don’t have to go searching outside of yourself. Pause, tune out the noise, ask yourself how you want to spend your time… and then do that.
Sounds simple, but oftentimes the most simple thing is the most powerful.
As a holistic time coach I get to help people leverage who they are in order to live more consciously, fully, and joyfully in their relationship with time. The work I do with my clients is profound because it all starts with getting to know who they are in relation to their time. It’s a time management tool, skill, and hack all wrapped up into one.
What’s a time and money quote you live by?
Dave
This quote has nothing to do with time or money. And it has everything to do with time and money.
When we’re thinking that we’re competent or that we’re hopeless—what are we basing it on? On this fleeting moment? On yesterday’s success or failure? We cling to a fixed idea of who we are and it cripples us. Nothing and no one is fixed.
That’s from Pema Chödrön’s book The Places That Scare You. And I’ve found money is often a place that scares us!
Becca
I have two I have to share here:
Scarcity is a lie. Independent of any actual amount of resources, it is an unexamined and false system of assumptions, opinions, and beliefs from which we view the world as a place where we are in constant danger of having our needs unmet.” - Lynne Twist from The Soul of Money.
I grew up in a false scarcity of time and money, but it felt just as real. I’m continuously working on healing my scarcity relationship and this quote helps me do that. It’s firm, convincing, and direct… all of which I need to make my overthinking mind take a pause and say “oh, yeah… that’s true.”
As long as you’re oriented toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are.” -Pema Chodron
Apparently, Pema Chodron has deeply impacted our relationship with time and money, Dave! Love it. As a buddhist, Pema reminds me that life is short, uncertain, and scary as hell. That’s why I live by this quote. It’s the solution required to heal scarcity and fear.
What mindset shifts will you integrate in your life and business from this interview? Comment below.
Want to feel confident, in control, and at peace with your time? Click here to get free + supportive resources!
Swamped by too much work? An inside look at how I can help you
Spend your "downtime" on weekends feeling guilty because you have too much work on your plate?
Not sure what the heck to do about your never-ending to-do list either?
I hear you, and I got you.
Most people think they have to change everything they’re doing, use rigid time management techniques, and be someone other than who they are.
Well, you don’t.
In fact, the more authentic and flexible you are, the easier it’ll be to kiss too much work and time-guilt goodbye and start actually getting ahead.
Hear from Maria Prendeville below to learn more about how working with me helped her…
Be more present with my family and friends.
Take time off feeling guilt-free.
No more working weekends or feeling bad for not working (even if it's been a busy week).
Hobbies be a lot more enjoyable.
Feel far more in tune with her gut and intuition.
Tell us who you are and what you do.
I’m Maria Prendeville and I’m a Content Writer for B2B companies.
Before you began working with me, what was your life like? Did you have too much work on your plate?
Yes! I felt burned out and like I couldn't stay on top of my never-ending to-do list. Every day I piled way too much on my plate, and often felt so overwhelmed that I couldn't even tackle anything.
Every week would end with me wishing I had 10 more days of the week to get stuff done!
Then, I would spend the "downtime" on weekends feeling guilty because I thought I should be working to catch up on stuff. So work was like a never-ending "unproductive", tiring guilt trip.
What doubts did you have before working together?
I was apprehensive about the process I would have to follow.
Although I had an idea that Becca worked closely with calendars and not with following stringent, whacky time management processes…there was a part of me that thought I'd have to completely overhaul my lifestyle and work methods and then that wouldn't last, because I knew no other way!
What has happened in your life or business since we worked together?
I have become far more relaxed about work and the stifling guilt that I felt almost every day about not working more is almost completely gone now!
I see now that work was probably the main problem/stressful area for me, but I've noticed that since I've started managing this better that the positive effects can be seen across my life.
I'm more present with my family and friends.
When I take time off it's guilt-free, it's a hard rule now that I don't work weekends.
I no longer feel bad for not working (even if it's been a busy week).
When I switch off I switch off completely.
My hobbies are a lot more enjoyable.
I'm far more in tune with my gut and intuition.
It has also put into perspective the kinds of industries and companies I want to work for; giving myself the space to find what I truly enjoy and the type of writing and reading I like means I intentionally choose who I work with.
I've also become a lot more flexible with my work. Before I thought I had to be super regimented and if I wasn't then the day was "ruined." Now I see with the help of my calendar how my time can be cleared and rescheduled according to random life events that inevitably pop up.
What do you think made those things (listed above) possible?
Having more compassion for myself and realizing that I truly am human with faults.
Becca's help with digging through why I feel the way I do and uncovering my rooted thoughts around certain beliefs I held definitely highlighted the unnecessary belief systems I followed. This questioning opened up a new way of thinking for me and she held the space for me to be able to think for myself about why I follow certain work rules or think I need to be this productive.
And of course, Becca showing me that my calendar is completely within my control and that there is space to do all the things in an effective manner while completing them stress-free!
What would you say to someone considering hiring Becca?
Your life is going to change! Haha but seriously, I would tell them it's money very well spent.
These are positive habits that will not only help with work but across all areas of your life. Instead of thinking about this coaching as something else you need to work on in your life and adding an extra stress, if anything this coaching allows you to focus on what is truly important and it helps to take AWAY those unnecessary to-do lists and stressors.
Get ready to be far more aligned with a life you love living.
Feel burned out because you have too much work on your plate?
Together we can turn your overwhelm and stress into confidence and peace. Learn more about my services here.
How quarterly planning helps you stay flexible and accomplish your goals easier
How many times have you created a plan only to have life come up and derail it all?
This is one of the most common things I hear from my clients, students, my partner, and basically, everyone who’s ever planned anything.
In this blog, I’m going to share with you why quarterly planning was the key to creating a plan that allowed me to stay focused and accomplish my goals, while also being flexible and responsive to life’s uncertainties.
Ready to set you and your business up for success this upcoming quarter? Check out my Holistic Quarterly Planner (available for puchase).
Quarterly planning accounts for life’s uncertainties
We know just how uncertain and unpredictable life is now more than ever.
When unpredictable events happen, things shift inside and outside of us. We change, external circumstances change and our goals change… causing our plans to change.
I don’t know about you but when I make plans and they change, I feel like I wasted so much of my time. I’m also reminded of how little control I don’t have over things making a part of me never want to plan again.
This is where quarterly planning is so effective.
Instead of spending tons of time at the beginning of a year planning the entire year out, quarterly planning just asks you to think about and plan 3-months at a time.
When you break your year down into four pieces, it’s easier to prioritize projects allowing you to stay focused and accomplish your goals easier. When you quarterly plan with me, you also get to pause, reassess how you’re spending your time, and realign your plans to who you are as a person.
The result?
Saving hours of planning time, doing time, and wasting time following an outdated plan (or no plan at all).
Say goodbye to under (or over) estimating your capacity
Oh, human tendencies.
Did you know that when people set annual goals (think new year's resolutions) we underestimate how much we can actually achieve?
As I mentioned above, none of us know who we’ll be or where we're going in 12 months from now. That’s why lots of new years resolution-ers set one main goal: they just want to grow their business by 25% this next year. Or start running. Or eat healthier.
I bet you also didn’t know (but really did know) is humans have a tendency to overestimate how much we can get done in a day or a week.
We put so much stuff on our daily & weekly to-do lists, rarely getting to half of it.
Yep, you guessed it. Quarterly planning takes into account under (and over) estimating tendencies by focusing on 3 months.
When we’re realistic with how much we can actually do, our plans, and the goals we set will make it so much easier to accomplish what we want to do.
So many priorities, not enough time? Don’t worry, quarterly planning to the rescue!
You have all the things that come along with growing & managing a business.
Maybe you still have a 9-to-5 or another gig to supplement your income.
You want to take really good care of yourself: regularly meditate, meal prep, work out, and learn how to knit, paint, or play the guitar.
You want to save money or travel the world.
You want to spend more time with your family and your friends.
The list of recognizing your potential doesn't end there.
Guess what? I think it’s such a beautiful thing to want to be your best self but, it can also lead to lots of overwhelm, frustration, and inaction.
Quarterly planning helps you figure out what to focus on NOW that will get you the best, most fulfilling results. When you plan your quarter with me, you’ll go inwards, identify what season you’re in, and how to do it all without feeling like you’re doing it all.
Click here to read more about how to prioritize effectively when life feels overwhelming.
I’ve been hosting quarterly planning workshops for almost three years.
If you want to have…
Clarity on what you really want to focus your precious time & energy on for the next 3 months.
A step-by-step plan created by your internal guidance that make it so much easier for you to follow your plan and accomplish your goals (Finally!!!)
Fresh intentional energy and motivation to help you really make the most of your time.
Click here to check out my Holistic Quarterly Planner now!
Think good time management in entrepreneurship needs to be rigid? It doesn't.
Feel like your brain and time management seem to go together like oil and water?
Small tasks keep slipping by keeping you from sharing your wisdom and expertise with the world?
You’re not alone.
Traditional time management strategies feel rigid, constricting, and unhelpful to so many.
Want to know the secret sauce? Changing how you feel about and experience time.
Once you re-think and repair your relationship with time and time management, a system made for your brain and values will organically reveal itself to you.
Without doing that, time management will continue to hold you back.
Things CAN and WILL change.
Freedom, flexibility, and ease IS possible for you.
Hear from Dr. Caroline Addington below to learn more about how working with me impacted her, her business, and her life.
Tell us who you are and what you do
What was your business and life like before you began working with me?
What doubts did you have before working together?
What has happened in your life/business since we started working together?
What made those things (in above video) possible?
If you had to sell this service to somebody else, what would you say to them?
Ready to experience more joy, flow, and ease? I’d love to talk! Learn more about my services.
How to take care of yourself when you have the winter blues
How to take care of yourself when you have the winter blues
Once the holidays pass and deep winter sets in, it's easy to forget that this is traditionally the season to slow down and rest.
Especially because we’re inundated with posts and workshops about setting goals and making plans for the new year.
Extra especially because most modern-day cultures and economies do not shift with the natural seasons. Can you imagine Walmart or Target and the oil industry opting to slow down or close? Ha.
However, nature doesn’t stay at top speed and max growth all year round. And guess what? As human beings, we are nature!
That’s why millions of people in America alone experience winter blues. Or more intensely, "seasonal affective disorder", also known as "seasonal depression.”
As business owners, it can feel extremely difficult to slow down. But it doesn’t have to be.
You have a unique opportunity to create a culture within your life and your business to shift with the seasons.
You became a small business owner to do this exact thing.
How to “beat” the winter blues
I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I hate the cold.
In the winter, my body hurts, I'm not motivated at all, and I just want to eat a bunch of food and hibernate. My husband basically has to drag me out of the house to get outside because of how much I hate the cold.
If you’re with me or you typically have lower energy and motivation in the winter months, you are not alone. Millions of people experience a sort of winter blues or seasonal depression. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you for wanting and/or needing to slow down in the winter.
In fact, I’d say you’re extremely in tune with yourself and I’m celebrating that about you.
Understanding why the winter blues happens to you
Internal and external factors greatly affect how we manage our time, get things done, and achieve our goals. In order to more holistically manage your time, taking them into account is extremely important. Want some examples?
Internal factors are our mental health, physical health, energy levels, menstrual cycle (if you have one), and more.
External factors are like the weather, our physical space, astrology (if you believe in astrology as I do), geographical allocation of resources, policies, and more.
As humans, we can’t ignore them. We have to work with them, including during the winter.
When you think of wintertime, what do you think of?
Cold weather
Long and dark days
Trees, plants, and things that have died off and don't grow for months
Animals hibernate or migrate to warmer places
Death and decay
Slowing down
Sleeping
Wintertime as an external factor causes a major shift in our bodies where they want to slow down and rest more.
So when winter rolls around and you have a ton on your plate, big goals, packed schedule… your body wants to do the exact opposite. This makes it extremely difficult for you to feel motivated, get focused, and be productive in the same way as other seasons.
Feel the urge to slow down, a lack of motivation, or an increase in negative self-talk in the winter months?
Then you are someone who is impacted by seasonal changes, and it’s extremely important to learn how to work with this external factor.
Shift your mindset around beating the blues
Most articles talk about beating the blues as if you’re in a fight against yourself. That’s not helpful for anyone.
You don’t have to beat the blues. You don’t have to be productive right now. You can rest more, and still be successful.
Shifting your mindset around beating the winter blues looks like:
Not suppressing the urge to rest and forcing yourself to work at high speed.
Letting go of the pressure to operate at the same speed you might during other times of the year.
Taking the best care of yourself through it…which typically means slowing down, a lot.
Doing what you need to do to come out on the other end prepared and ready for the next season to begin.
Listen to your body
Winter is the best season to practice being more mindful and listening to what your body needs. Your body wants to slow down, wants care, and wants ______. (You fill in the blank: What does your body need right now?) Mine needs a NAP.
This season is also a great time to lower self-expectations, do the bare minimum, reflect on your life or business, watch Netflix without feeling guilty, or just sit in front of a fireplace and chill.
Doing the bare minimum, slowing down, and resting might feel challenging at first. Listen to what your body needs and wants, and let go of the rest of the stuff until there's more sunlight.
Welcome this opportunity to rest and recharge because it doesn’t come very often in our society and our businesses.
Max out your sunlight time
Keep as many window shades as you can open as much as possible to allow more sunlight into your home.
When you feel brave, bundle up and get outside. I try to as much as possible but as I said, I really hate the cold. But, whenever I actually go outside it really helps me.
Prioritize movement & nourishment
I typically prioritize movement all year round, but I have to even more in the winter because I just want to sit on the couch and do nothing. So, I create a list of all the current ways I love to move my body and schedule them 3-4x a week in my calendar when I’m most energized and motivated.
Then, I incorporate warmth. This looks like going to hot yoga, exercising in front of a heater, or bundling up and getting outside. But I try to move 3-4 times a week, even if it's just like dancing around my house for a couple of minutes.
By the way, there are some awesome gentle & free movement classes on YouTube. Click here for my personal playlist of yoga and mindful movement classes.
Another thing that I prioritize all year round, but especially so in the winter is eating healthy and taking vitamins. In the winter when we’re feeling less likely to move our bodies and eat healthily, even just taking vitamin D and C helps me feel like I’m doing everything I can to stay healthy and well.
How might you prioritize taking care of your body in the winter?
Make loving decisions for you & your business
What I mean by this is making decisions that are grounded in self-love. If taking a trip to a warmer climate (COVID permitting) would be loving, do it. If taking a nap would be loving, do it. If it feels like you’re forcing yourself to move and eat healthily, don’t do it.
If taking a bunch of stuff off your to-do list is loving, do it. If saying no to another client is loving, great. If you don’t feel like marketing right now, that’s cool.
Use this season to be more loving towards yourself in the decisions you make.
Additional external support
In the winter, I seek out more support than in other seasons of the year.
I am a huge advocate of getting support whether it be from a therapist, coach, friend, or something else. Especially if you’re winter blues is intense.
Why? Because sharing with someone else the shoulds I feel to do more in the winter helps me release them.
Consider investing in some accountability or external support around this time to make sure that you take really good care of yourself, in the winter specifically.
How will you “beat the blues?”
Recognizing you have the winter blues and taking care of yourself throughout the winter is how you can beat the blues, successfully manage your business, and be prepared and ready spring.
What specifically will you do to beat the blues? Comment below on what you are going to do differently this year.
Want support with shifting with the seasons so you can successfully run your business and take really good care of yourself? I can help! Click here to book a free consult call.
Why taking time off is so hard and how to do it without feeling guilty
Why taking time off is so hard and how to do it without feeling guilty
Resting and taking time off is not exactly glamorous or sexy. But… Do you know what is?
Feeling energized, motivated, and joyful on a regular basis. And being successful without having to work all the time.
If that's what you're into or looking for, taking time off and rest is non-negotiable. So why is it so challenging to put everything aside and make time for you?
By the end of this blog, you will understand why it's so hard for you to take time away from your business and what to do about it.
Why is taking time off so hard (even when you plan for it)?
Puppies.
Confused? Let me explain.
If you’ve ever had a puppy, you know how much work they are. It makes me tired just thinking about getting one.
Your whole life revolves around your precious new pup. You have to continuously take care of it and train it so it doesn’t go to the bathroom inside. It wakes you up all hours of the night. When you go to work, you have to put your puppy in a crate so it doesn’t chew your entire living room apart.
Guess what happens when you are done with work?
Your puppy is so excited to see you! But you can’t just flop on the couch and relax… your puppy NEEDS to use the bathroom and run around to get all its energy out.
Now, imagine that your mind is that puppy.
You’ve been working, doing, and going for your entire life keeping your thoughts and feelings in that metaphorical crate. When you take time off, you’re confronted with all of it.
Resting is not a piece of cake
Hustle culture, societal and familial norms, self and other people’s expectations, and basically everything that we’ve been taught since the first grade is to get things done.
Our entire economy is based on labor and output, with one goal in mind: non-stop growth.
Our minds are wired to constantly think about all the things we have to do.
That's why so many people say they feel lazy or behind when they pause, take time off, and rest. And that’s why it feels so much easier to continue to work and stay busy until you basically HAVE to rest (equivalent to burnout).
Now you might have some more clarity around why it’s so difficult to rest. However, logically even when you know something, it can still be incredibly difficult to do
Especially when you are an entrepreneur and you feel like your business will fall apart when you take time away from it. If you feel like this, there are many different things you can do to let go of that misunderstanding. Click here to find out how I can help you create a healthy foundation for you to take time away from your business.
If resting is hard for you and you want to learn more about how our societal norms, capitalism, racism, and the patriarchy impact your ability to rest, follow the nap ministry. They have taught me so much!
What’s possible when you take time for you?
When you pause, take time for yourself, and rest you get to sit with yourself.
You get to notice and feel your feelings.
You get to examine, reflect, acknowledge, and celebrate yourself.
You get to notice what’s going well, and what needs to change.
It might feel like a lot. Just like a real puppy, when it first gets out your thoughts and feelings may feel overwhelming. But by continuing to work and delaying time off, you keep your metaphorical puppy in its crate dying to get out.
That’s why I recommend having someone to support you through this journey.
Curious about what’s waiting on the other side of the initial puppy wild energy?
When you take more time off, you’ll be able to…
Be present for the things that deeply matter to you (your loved ones, your health, etc.)
Regularly feel refreshed, energized, and creative (not only to be more productive later).
Heal any underlying feelings of unworthiness, scarcity, and insufficiency.
Start feeling more fulfilled, alive, and successful.
Shift your mindset around time so every day doesn’t feel like a stressful high-speed race.
Find what being content and at peace looks like to you.
Start believing in things like divine timing and increase your patience.
Begin to feel more confident in yourself and how you spend your time.
Increase your self-trust, self-discipline, and self-love.
The list goes on and on.
However, I always say when you regularly rest and take time for yourself, you begin truly living.
If you want any or all of those things, learning how to take more time off and be with yourself is your answer.
How do you take guilt-free time off?
There are some tangible solutions and non-tangible solutions. And the solutions you need are completely unique to you, your business, and your life.
How you might create more time off and rest without feeling guilty could look like:
Identifying that you have a desire to make more time for yourself.
If you often say or feel, “I never have enough time,” healing a time scarcity mindset.
Setting and keeping firmer boundaries around your time off.
Aligning your schedule and working hours.
Adopting a mindfulness practice to handle the thoughts and feelings that come up when you rest.
If you can’t rest because you need to work to pay the bills, figure out how much money you actually need to create a plan and schedule to reach that number.
Learning how to be more compassionate with yourself because you can’t heal guilt with more guilt.
Planning your time more realistically (no more overcommitting and over-scheduling).
Ask yourself, “What might be my next step so I can rest and reap the benefits of guilt-free time off?”
As a holistic time coach, discovering how to reach your goals and take more guilt-free time off is one of the ways I help the business owners I work with.
If you’re ready to go from "I never have enough time" to at peace and fulfilled with what gets done in your 24 hours, including rest and time off… schedule a free no-pressure consult call now.
Why toxic productivity is actually getting in the way of your success
Why toxic productivity is actually getting in the way of your success
Today's post is a bit vulnerable and scary because as a time management coach I'm sharing with you my biggest time management mistake.
I’m sharing it with you because hopefully, you resonate with me. By the end of this post, you will also know how it is costing you so much time + energy in your life and business.
So when lockdown started I got at least 10 emails from a bunch of different companies offering free art classes, finance classes, knitting classes, and all these different things that I could do.
Now that I “had the time” guess what I did? I signed up for all of them.
Deep down I felt that I needed to make the most of this time now that we were stuck inside of our homes.
If you felt this way too, comment below just to tell me “Yes, I feel you Becca.” Tell me I'm not alone in this!
This is a super small example of a bigger picture issue that we have as humans in our society today. On a normal basis, pre-pandemic pre-COVID, we are bombarded with productivity hacks, tips, tricks, and tools to make every moment productive as possible. If you google productivity, you will get around 500 million results.
When we are students in school, as children, we are rewarded for getting the most done, the quickest possible, the best output. We're impressed by people who can pull all-nighters. In our industry, entrepreneurs boast about working 80 hours a week and never sleeping or having time for themselves.
Rarely do we celebrate people who have a healthy work balance, who get a good night's sleep, who take care of themselves and have tons of time off to rest and to do whatever they want.
So when the pandemic hit globally, in the United States, many of us didn't have our commutes to our nine to fives anymore. We didn't have plans to go out with friends or spend time with family that didn’t live with us. We had “nothing else to do”, so we could finally get to all of the house projects, courses, books, starting the business, and growing exponentially.
—> A statistic that just backs up what I'm saying is Home Depot increase its revenue by 20% from February 2020 to January 2021. They made 132 billion dollars in revenue.
At the same time, companies and many people felt like our focus, energy, and output would be the exact same or somehow even better during a really traumatic, huge shift in everyday life. So many people lost loved ones, got sick, and lost jobs. Yet we continue to expect ourselves to be productive at the expense of our humanness.
Since lockdown began, it became clear to so many people that toxic productivity is our biggest time management mistake as a society. And it was mine too, even being someone who knew how important resting and taking time off is. Even as a time management coach, I was still pressuring myself to be productive at the expense of the things that I thought I valued and cared about.
The mistake of toxic productivity
Why is toxic productivity a mistake?
A business owner I have worked with recently asked me why is it such a mistake or why is it a bad thing that I want to be productive and work. My answer was, “there is nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with wanting to grow the thing that you are passionate about, the business, the life that you are trying to create. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be productive, it's when it becomes toxic.”
When it becomes toxic, you only care about productivity, making every single moment productive and have an output or result you are chasing after something that is not really ever going to happen.
We believe this fallacy of productivity, that we'll finally get everything on our to-do list done one day. So we're always doing more, more, more, and more to try and get to that one day where we can rest, take time off, and make time for ourselves.
Productivity becomes toxic when all you do is try and get to that one day. That's what creates a hamster wheel because it never happens. Your to-do list will never end and when you believe you'll finally get to that one day, the things that you do get done never feel like enough.
All of that creates a lot of self-confidence issues, it causes unhealthy self-care habits, you start to put your worth into your productivity and the output that you create.
That has a lot of detrimental impacts on your business and your life.
In my personal experience, I was in the hospital with an intestine infection, never really having major health issues before. I developed a severe intestine infection and was in the hospital trying to meet a deadline! I had my computer with me in the hospital trying to work on an essay. At the time I was in college as an engineering student. I didn't really care about English at all (sorry to my teacher) and yet, I was unconsciously choosing to be productive over resting and caring about myself.
That's how bad it can get. Obviously, that is a pretty severe "rock bottom” in terms of burnout and productivity. It doesn't have to be severe at all it can just be you unable to sit on the couch and enjoy an evening with your family or even with yourself.
How to know if your productivity is toxic?
You have trouble sitting still and resting.
You continue to work when you know that you're tired, achy, and not in the mood to work.
You feel like being bored is a bad thing.
There's this just constant need for self-improvement, just more, more and more which leads to a lot of impacts on our mental and physical health like depression, anxiety, and strained relationships.
Choosing work over yourself and which leads to a lot of self-mistrust.
That's my experience and that is the experience of many of the clients that I work with.
How to reverse the impacts of toxic productivity
If you relate to any of the things that I just mentioned, I want to share with you two super simple things that I had to do and that I help the folks do in my coaching program. There are so many things that you can do to start reversing the impacts of toxic productivity and hustle culture.
1.The first thing that you can do is reframing what productive means to you.
A lot of times we think that just resting, relaxing, and spending time with family isn't productive and I would love to cut that out, it is 100% productive. Anything that is of value or importance to you is productive. Being alive, being a human, it's not just about work, it is not just creating results and output. Anything that means something to you is productive and I will say this over and over and over and over and over again.
Once you figure out what is of value or what is important to you then just remind yourself every time that you spend time on those things, you're being productive!
2. The second tip that I want to share with you is, the best lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle.
There are so many statistics and studies coming out around how being healthy is the best thing you can do for work, productivity, your business, for yourself, for your family.
When you are falling into the biggest time management mistake, aka toxic productivity, you put work over health, work over self. Putting your health number one is the most basic thing that you can do to step off the hamster wheel.
At the end of the day, we need to rest, we need to train ourselves to put ourselves first.
The next question that you are going to ask me is how, how do I reframe what's productive? How do I put myself first? How do I create a healthier work-life balance?
There is no one solution. I can't give you in this short post what the how is. The how comes from inside of you, it is unique to you.
This is beautiful because that means it's going to work, you just have to figure out what is inside of you and how to make that happen. So if you want to step off of the toxic productivity hamster wheel, if you want to be mentally and physically healthier and happier. If you want to be more compassionate with yourself. And if you want to feel like there is all of the time in the world for everything that you need to get done… the answers are inside of you. And I can support you in unearthing your answers in my 1:1 coaching program.
I know how hard it is to peel yourself away from your laptop, from work, from the business that you're building. I know how hard it is when you know how toxic a productivity mindset can be and yet still fall victim to it and not be able to rest, take time off and put yourself first. So if that's you, you are in good company here. Trust me when I say that I am here to help you break up with toxic productivity and step off that hamster wheel so you can start resting and start living life in the way that you want to.
If you resonated with my biggest time management mistake, let me know in the comments below.