Maybe You’re Not Tired. Maybe You’re Bored.
Here's a weird thing I've discovered: more often than not, when you're in a business slog, it's not because you need ~more rest~ or ~another Notion template~
It's because you're bored.
When you're bored, your work feels boring, and everyone can feel that you feel like your work is boring.
The antidote?
Switch 👏 things 👏 up.
Here are some of the most unlikely boredom-curing things that undoubtedly make me a better business owner (and human).
i. having a variety of side-quests that have (seemingly) nothing to do with my work
If there's one thing I don't have a problem with, it's being interested.
While some of this is obviously God-given, a significant amount of nurturing also takes place.
My many macro and micro side-quests (ranging from everything to professional sports to improv to everyone's life story) benefit my business in every way possible.
These here realms (personal development, spirituality, coaching, blah blah blah) can have a rapid and often unconscious bubble effect. It's easy to become so immersed in what you think you do that you forget about the rest of the world outside of it.
The best news—they all feed each other.
I've learned as much about leadership from my love of sports as I have from teachers and mentors. I've discovered as much about marketing by studying musicians as I have from *learning marketing.* Seeing Broadway plays puts me in contact with creativity and collaboration in a way that words can never do justice.
All of this imbues everything in my work.
Recap:
• Side quests are good for you and your business.
• Interesting people are interested people. Inspiring people are endlessly inspired.
• Learn a thing from a professional in that arena. Simultaneously, look for ways to learn about that thing that seemingly has nothing to do with it 🙃
ii. aura-switching (or, flexibility!)
I credit my flexibility to energy work. And, of course, as a child, trying and failing miserably at every single sport until I finally found my beloved volleyball.
Having what we'll call *auric flexibility* is both a benefit to my business and, my general wellbeing.
While there are infinite ways this shows up, auric flexibility can look like:
✨ enjoying knowing; enjoying not knowing
✨ knowing when to be efficient; knowing when to be inefficient
✨ knowing when to experiment; knowing when to reflect on said experiment
Most people are driven by extremes. Because, sure, *trauma* and also (IDK if you've noticed), extremes are widely available for the taking in the collective.
But, if you have the soul gusto to both see it and actively transform it, you enter the promised land of surfing spectrums.
Ah, that's the good stuff.
From here, you become better at orienting to what's right, right now.
In your business, this is a non-negotiable skill.
Take offer creation. When you're imagining the offer, efficiency is a surefire way to hinder it. But when you're building the offer, streamlining is a superpower.
When you're copywriting, you can't rely on a framework to cultivate your authentic energies. But once you're flowing, you can't expect to learn the craft without understanding structure.
When you're on a run, go fast. When you're hand-making pasta with your children, go slow.
You catch my drift?
Recap:
• Flexibility trumps extremes, every time.
• Knowing when and how to move along a spectrum makes life more enjoyable.
• Switching states in your business is a superpower.
iii. purposefully relating to people with whom I don't have a lot of shared perceptions
I am that friend that people know they can take to anything, anywhere, with anyone—and I'll be perfectly fine.
This is because:
I'm obsessed with people
I can talk to anyone, about anything
This equal parts quality and practice saves me from collapsing into the feedback loop of my work.
The internet and your personal algorithm will very quickly put you into an echo chamber.
While it's great to have some areas or relationships in your life where there is agreement on foundational things, the opposite is also true.
It's just as beneficial, sometimes even more so (but not in a comf way), to have relationships where the foundational things are not necessarily agreed upon. Or, if you want to start lighter, sub-foundational things.
Ah, all the lines we could draw to obvious and non-obvious correlations.
I am better at literally every role in (and outside) of my work because of this.
You become better at speaking the more you listen. You become better at thinking and perceiving the more you hear myriad perspectives that test yours. You become more creative the more you pay attention. The list goes on.
This makes you more versatile. Versatility is an excellent thing in entrepreneurship.
Recap:
• If you only relate to people who agree with you, this is hindering your business (and your wellbeing).
• Diversity in your work isn't something you have to good person you're way into—it's a natural byproduct of being a diverse person.
• People who are willing to change are the best at changing people.