Work less, achieve more, enter flow.

A couple of weeks ago, I was teetering on the edge of what is often known as 'burnout'. I had worked myself into the ground and was exhausted, drained and sad.

I didn't recognise the signs, as I'm not someone who works 'hustler' hours, working 9-6 most days, and often less on a Friday.

However, I work fast, I am a sprinter not a marathon runner, and can achieve more in one day than some achieve in 3 days. This is not bragging, it is how my brain works and actually, it's quite hectic and I'd rather it was different.

The problem is, I'm ambitious, I want to build a strong business, a strong brand, and have a positive impact on the world.

So even though my instincts constantly tell me to work less hours, my ego, my fear-based thoughts tell me to push through and work harder.

I experience mini burnout like this every 3 months and have done so since March 2019.

However, this time I was actually worried.

I rang my therapist in a panic.

I was worried things were going to get so bad, I was going to have to stop everything and take a seriously long break.

I'd have to let go of my team.

I'd have to move out of my house as I wouldn't be able to pay for it.

I'd have to let my clients go.

All my hard work would be worth nothing.

I'd be a 'failure'.

Where would I live?

What will I do instead?

Would they take me back at Starbucks? (I worked there in my gap year, 10 years ago).

I was spiralling, fearful and scared.

But then I reminded myself, I have been through worse. I have actually been to hell and back and I can handle this.

I knew I needed to take some serious steps to slow myself down and bring some calm into my day. I was operating from fear, from panic and from massive ambition but it was harming me, It was making me sick.

One of the first actions I took, was to change my 'working hours'. My working hours here, I mean the time spent on my laptop, at my desk. You are still 'working' if you're reading, coming up with ideas and learning but often we don't class this as 'work' because it isn't 'I'm sat a desk work'.

I changed my 'working hours' to 6 hours per day. 11 - 5 (often 6 actually, but the goal is 5).

I appreciate many of you won't need this kind of structure, I do, I need hours I work, otherwise, the chaos makes me anxious

My new daily plan looks like this:

11-12.30 - focused 90 minutes on creating, reviewing, ideating, strategising.

12.30-1 - lunch

1-2 - admin, emails, chat on slack

2-5 - calls, client calls, sales calls, team calls

And what do I do before 11?

7am - wake up, meditate, get dressed, take the dog for a walk and listen to 30 minutes of audible

8am - arrive at the gym, or on non-gym days, this is free time where I’ll likely spend reading and learning

9am - return home from the gym, shower, get ready, do my hair and makeup and wear something nice, NOT fucking trackies.

10am - tidy the house, do some personal admin, sit and journal

11am - start working

After 3 days of working like this, I was completely changed for the better.

After 3 days...

• My creativity returned
• My passion returned
• I achieved more
• My team were more empowered
• My happiness and excitement returned
• I found clarity and solved problems I'd been trying to solve for 6 months

This online world has led us to think we have to be DOING to be achieving. We have to be sat at a computer to be successful.

So my message is, if you are an entrepreneur, a solopreneur or someone whos job relies on creativity and you at your best, you do not have to be sat at a computer to be moving forward.

If I go down, my business and my team go down. My clients would suffer.

Spending more hours on a computer, as a slave to technology will not make less successful. In fact it will make me more successful because my definition of success is not:

• Working so hard that I don't have a life
• Living with anxiety and stress
• Sacrificing my health
• Spending all my time in do mode because my brain is too foggy to create

If we spend less time in 'do', and more time in our flow, creating and doing the things we love we are more likely to reach our 'flow' state;

A state in which we feel is timeless, we enjoy everything we're participating in and everything comes with ease.

Not only does this sound like a state we want to be in at all times, it's also a state that has had a lot of research take place around it.

According to a study by McKinsey & Company, executives that reach flow state not only exhibit increased brain functioning but five times more productive than their counterparts.

Thus showing that by increasing our flow state even by a small amount, the chances are we can double our productivity.

Will this mean by getting into more of a state of flow that I will work these hours stated above forever? I doubt it, but my role as the leader of the business is to hold and direct the vision, to support my team to do their jobs to the best of their abilities and to learn and adapt constantly to give us the best chance of success.

You notice I didn't mention money there because money does not follow input, it follows output. And output comes from space, from flow, from rest, from ideas, from clarity.

Work less. Achieve more. Enter flow.

And fucking unfollow anyone who makes you feel otherwise.