Ep127: What to do when busyness creeps back in

00:51 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast. You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes. Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started! Ten years ago when i was in the depths of work related stress and anxiety and searching for a different way to do life

01:39 I discovered the Slow Living movement and since then, i've been on a mission to keep slow and simple front of mind both in my business and in life outside work. And at first the difference was huge right we decluttered so much from our home and I restructured my work in a way that gave me the space I was craving and the relief was immediate and actually quite profound But what I found was that over time, that shift became our new normal. And while slow living still underpins a life that feels really good it no longer carries that same sense of contrast or relief not because it stopped working but because its kind of quietly just doing its thing doing this job. Every now and then things begin to creep and the calendar starts to fill up life starts to feel a bit noisier and I noticed that familiar feeling of busyness creeping back in

02:30 So when that happens, it's not a crisis but it is a cue. It's a reminder for me to revisit the same sort of first principles that helped in the beginning. It's not about overhauling everything again but reminding myself what's important and gently recalibrating And there are always lessons to be learnt from the times that things go a bit wonky. So today I'm going to share some of those lessons with you in the hope that they can help you too! First let's talk about how i can tell when things aren't right, so...I start to feel it in my body. I notice that I'm exhausted and physically kind of tensing up. My sleep suffers, my head feels kind of full-to-bursting

03:09 And for me, this might be different for you but for me when I can feel the overwhelm starting to creep in and the busyness starting to creep in. I don't worry about getting everything done because the way that I organise myself, the way I organise my time means that is never actually a problem for me but what usually happens is there isn't enough white space in my diary to allow me to rest So it's not about getting everything done, it's about not getting the rest that I need. And another thing that happens for me is that I get quite irritable and for me making even the simplest of decisions starts to feel really difficult So when things start to creep in the way that I'm thinking about as i'm sharing this with you, it doesn't necessarily mean a major meltdown. It doesn't mean that I feel like I'm dragging myself through my days and everything is a major struggle but when I don't have enough space in my days I can start to notice and feel the effects both physically and emotionally so what do I do about it when that starts to happen? The first thing I do is get my mornings back on track because if I can start my day with intention

04:13 Before my reserves of willpower start to diminish as the day sort of throws things at me because willpower is not a finite resource. So if I can start my day with intention, I know that i'm setting myself up for a better day from there. I'll also notice my habits in the mornings as well so if I've fallen into the habit of looking at my phone the moment I get out of bed, I remind myself that I don't need to do that and that I feel so much better when I don't If I've stopped meditating, I might reintroduce that into my mornings. Five or ten minutes is enough but if there is time for more then that's great! For me again this is different for everyone but meditation kind of helps me to keep things in perspective and I know that over time it has made me a much more balanced human preventing me from blowing things out of all proportion as I may have done in years gone by and then I just make sure that I'm factoring in pockets of movement during the day

05:04 So usually that involves getting out for a walk at lunchtime and yes, some of those walks are to the chocolate shop and back but that's okay. And if I'm sensing that my nervous system actually really needs a proper break maybe i haven't had any time off for a while um...I'll look at my diary and block out some time when I can switch off completely But by far the most important thing that I do when I feel myself sort of drifting further away from that slow and simple living that made such a massive difference to me when I first found it all those years ago Is to give myself permission to not get things done. Or as someone in my world once put it, To give myself an un-to do list For me that might look like pressing pause on some projects just being okay not to work on them for a minute while I kind of get my breath back if you like It might mean rescheduling some calls with people If i've got networking calls and I just don't have the energy

05:56 Maybe I give myself permission to not do those and just reschedule. People usually understand, and i've also actually structured things in my business and put things in place that will allow me to take my foot off the gas so for example I have a summer rewind um for the podcast over the summer usually for a month or so during July or August where I don't create any new episodes of the podcast but I republish some existing episodes that people might have missed And I choose not to email my mailing list every week over Christmas, so just those little moments of pause away from the usual rhythm of things just give me an opportunity to catch my breath. When i do all of those things

06:33 I feel so much more relaxed and my thinking is so much clearer. You know, i'm on it with work when I need to be but i'm protecting my boundaries a lot more fiercely So if you can identify with these feelings of heaviness and tiredness that can creep in sometimes here are some things that you can do that might help. So number one put the things that nourish you back on your list Those are often the first things that slip, aren't they? Right so whether that's exercise or a walk in the fresh air sitting with a cup of tea and a book for 10 minutes. A five minute meditation dancing around the kitchen those are often the things we think we don't have time for when we're busy but it's precisely because we're busy that we need to make them a priority Number two Make an unto-do list So can you let yourself off the hook with anything that needs to be done

07:19 Take a look at your list and get really ruthless. Identify the absolute essentials, and then see if there's anything you could let go of. As I've said already, you know, i choose not to publish new episodes with the podcast over the summer Does the world stop spinning? No it does not! So let go of any shoulds that you might be carrying on your shoulders Let go of your aspiration for perfection And just cut yourself some slack Number three, reflect review regroup. So when you're able to breathe a little more easily when you've given yourself some space it can be helpful to just look back and see if you can identify the patterns that got you here so was it simply a busy season that couldn't have been avoided? If so don't give yourself a hard time right sometimes life gets busy but see if you can schedule some down time to give you the chance to recover

08:07 Or it might be that with hindsight you realise you said yes to things when you could have said no, or you've got into some bad habits. Or the way that you've been working just doesn't feel good to you anymore so what could you do differently if that's the case? And number four remove that which isn't serving you So this isn't just about things that take your time, although that can be a really great place to start. Think about the things are taking up your precious headspace too so have you signed up for emails that you don't have time to read? Delete them and unsubscribe! Are there things in your social media feeds are leaving you feeling really heavy if so maybe you can remove them? Are piles of paper and clutter building up around your home? Stick your favourite music on set a timer for 15 minutes and have a tidying blitz see what you can clear in 15 minutes

08:52 When we're caught up in the day-to-day, it is so easy for busyness and overwhelm to creep upon us. So if you're resonating with any of this just cut yourself some slack choose not to get stuff done ditch the guilt and then focus in on what matters most And as always I hope that this helps and I look forward to seeing you again soon Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast! If you would like to hear more from me to help stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find the link to join my mailing list in the show notes and I would really love for you to join us so thanks so much for your support and look forward to seeing you next time