Episode 99: A life lesson about loose ends

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! A few weeks ago i had one of those light bulb moments simultaneously makes you feel better because it's giving you some kind of insight

01:39 But also makes you feel worse because you can't quite understand how you haven't figured it out before. So I was having a really grumpy kind of week, so you know the sort where everything feels like an effort energy is low irritation is rising to the surface more readily than usual. I was feeling really unsettled and I wasn't quite sure why So 10 years ago I would have been all up in my head trying to problem solve my way out of this feeling of malaise, endlessly wondering what does it mean and trying to figure it out. But these days I know that sometimes we just feel a little bit off. It's part of being human and that's okay doesn't have to mean that anything needs to be fixed

02:20 And so I didn't go down that rabbit hole this time, I just let those feelings be there. But inevitably as is often the way in not kind of consciously trying to figure out why i was feeling so glum... I suddenly had a real flash of clarity! I had too many loose ends. There were too many things in my life and in my business that weren't pinned down and that were making themselves a nuisance in the back of my mind poking and prodding me for attention So for example, I've been desperately trying to catch up with a friend that i haven't seen in way too long but we couldn't make the logistics work and I needed to go and collect my new glasses. I needed to decide what to do about a birthday gift for a friend. I needed to find some people who might be willing to answer some research questions for me there are a few other things I won't bore you with them all now but there was a lot going on that wasn't quite settled there were just too many unknowns

03:14 And all of these things, they needed space in my calendar but I kept batting them away because trying to figure out when to fit them into an already full enough schedule felt really stressful. and i felt as though putting all those things into my calendar would mean sacrificing some of the white space that is so necessary for my productivity & well-being But soon realised that was just my perception and it wasn't the reality When I actually sat down with my diary and committed to making some decisions, it actually wasn't anywhere near as bad as i thought. And I realized that I could chunk some things together there were certain things if I needed to go out I could do them you know in the same chunk of time or I could go and collect my new glasses whilst buying a present for my friend's birthday! Once I knew that I'd made space for the things that I needed and actually wanted to be doing It felt like a weight had been lifted even though I hadn't completed everything

04:11 I'd at least pinned them down and made some decisions around when to move them forward so that I could stop fretting about them. So do you have any loose ends of your own? Any half thought through, partly organised things that just need a little closure or place in your diary? Why not spend a little bit of time either consciously choosing to let those things go or scheduling in the action that you need to take, to close that loop and then see how that makes you feel. If you're anything like me it really will feel like your weight has been lifted! So as always I hope 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 a review as that will help more people discover this podcast. If you'd like to hear more from me to help you stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find a 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 I look forward to seeing you next time!