by Joey | May 3, 2018 | Creative Entrepreneur, How I Work Series
I’ve always been nosy curious about people. I loved AIM away messages that listed out what people were getting up to for the day. When people started daily vlogging on Youtube, I couldn’t get enough. And I’ll always be a sucker for blog posts that share behind-the-scenes information about how people do their lives.
Before I started working for myself, I was desperate to see how other creative entrepreneurs did things. What did the work look like? How did they manage their time? Where did they spend their days? Even though I’ve been in the entrepreneurial world for a few years now, the curiosity still lingers. I learn so much from seeing how other people operate. And I thought, hey, maybe you do too. So today, I’m here with a behind-the-scenes look at how I work to kick off the How I Work series. Every Thursday, a badass creative entrepreneur will be taking over the blog to share an inside look into their workday!
So, let’s get to it.
For those of you who may be new here, I’m Joey. I’m a Young Adult author, content creator, business start-up consultant, and a boundary and accountability coach. Basically, I help people make things happen whether they’re looking to attract new clients (hello, business blogging), start a business of their own, establish a work process that protects their dream job, or finally tackle that life-long creative dream.
There can be a lot of variation to my work day (said every creative entrepreneur ever). But I do my best to keep some things consistent.
How I work
Most often, I work daily from my home office. I’m an ISFJ, so I prefer to work alone and actually, I typically work in silence though I am a fairly social person. (I realize a lot of you are shuddering right now. 😬) At first, it was a total accident–I’d start my day only to realize halfway through I never put on a playlist, but over time it just became my preference. I nannied for many years, managed young teams, and spent a lot of time in customer service jobs. So silence at this point in my career feels like a much-welcomed change.
On occasion, I’ll crave a change of scenery or I’ll feel the (very rare) urge to be around people. When that happens, I’ll usually pack up and head to a coffee shop. While I’d love to be cool and claim that I frequent some quirky, artsy local place, I have to be honest. Starbucks is close to my husband’s office, and we share a car, so…🤷🏻♀️
I log in for the day around 8AM. The first thing I do is take inventory of everything I have going on. While I work completely virtually with clients (I use Asana to manage client relations), I do still like to keep track of things in a paper planner. Studies have actually shown that you’re more likely to remember something if you’ve written it down in your own handwriting. So, I have an Ashley Shelly planner that I keep with me; and I have a large Erin Condren planner that stays open on my desk to track my project goals each week. I do on occasion keep track of my todo list via Wunderlist, but that’s not as common these days now that I tend to stay at a desk.
Usually, the work looks like some combination of writing content, coaching and consulting meetings, and creating course content (yes, so keep an eye out for three VERY exciting course launches coming very soon!). That’s work-work. But I’m also in the middle of writing my second book and promoting the paperback version of my first book, so I keep things pretty interesting on the day-to-day. Calendar blocking is a huge part of my productivity. It’s easy for me to feel completely overwhelmed when things are just floating around in my head, so calendar blocking helps me know that 1) there is time to get everything done and 2) when it’s going to get done. This also comes in huge for implementing my boundaries. But we’ll talk more about that in future content.
Habits & Routines
My early mornings are sacred to me. While I’m sure to listen to my body and allow myself to sleep in when necessary, I typically wake up around 5:30. Quiet time with my coffee and my thoughts is a non-negotiable for me. I’ve just started practicing Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages, which is an exercise where before anything else you write longhand for three pages; stream of consciousness style. I can do a whole separate post on its benefits, but so far it’s been pretty life-changing. Along with that, I sit with my one cup of coffee (Folger’s Classic Roast with way too much Coffeemate Peppermint Mocha creamer) and start to plan my day.
I give myself time in the morning to ease into things. If I feel like catching up on Youtube, I do. (I’m a big fan of vlogs; MoreZoella, FleurDeVlog, LeighAnnSaysVlogs are some of my faves.) If I’m in the middle of a good book, I’ll sit and read for a while. (My TBR list is crazy right now. I really enjoy mystery/suspense type books, but at the moment I’ve been getting back into the YA mindset with a few Sarah Dessen novels.) This time in the morning is to do the things that I want to do. Sometimes that means diving right into a creative project if that’s what I feel like doing. But throughout the rest of the day, a lot of what I’m doing is for someone else. My mornings are for me.
My bedtime routine is pretty consistent, too. I take out my contacts, wash my face with coconut oil (it’s honestly the only thing I’ve found that can control my otherwise crazy oily skin–go figure), and apply my skincare (a Ponds night cream and a L’oreal eye cream because #almost32). I don’t keep my phone by my bed, so once I’ve plugged it in for the night, I’m screen free (say no to the mindless social media scroll). When I first get into bed, I do my Lara Casey Write the Word journal. After that, I’ll read for a bit while my sleeping pill kicks in (yes, I’m a terrible sleeper otherwise). Once I start to get sleepy, I do what everyone says not to and put on the TV to either FRIENDS or How I Met Your Mother. I know it’s a bad habit, but it’s comforting for me.
Life Balance
Here’s the thing. When you’re a creative entrepreneur, it’s really freaking easy to blur the lines between work and life. I’ve made the mistake of putting my work before everything else before. When every dollar you make is attached to the amount of hustle you put in, it can become a very slippery slope. Entrepreneurship is full of sacrifice, we all know that. But listen to me when I say this; you deserve to live your life, too. Because of this new found perspective, I now have firm office hours.
I am “on the clock” from 8-4PM Monday – Thursday, 8-noon on Fridays. Sure, I may carry work over on occasions, but for the most part, client communication comes to a hard stop at that time. I do not keep my email on my phone. And when I’m done for the day, I physically walk out of my office and shut the door. I have a work computer and a personal computer. And I do my best not to blur them.
These days, my evenings consist of taking yoga classes at Lifetime Fitness (can’t beat $30/month), making meals with my husband, reading books, writing, or binging a new show (we like Superstore and Splitting Up Together). I’ve also started making it a priority to spend time and intentionally catch up with friends. Sometimes that means an after work date, a FaceTime wine night, or just a plain old phone call. Either way, I’m making it a priority to keep up with the people who are important to me.
I’m in a place where I’m really enjoying my work. But I’m also very intentional about making sure to enjoy my life, too.
If you’re a creative entrepreneur, and you’d like to be featured in this How I Work series, send me an email with How I Work as the subject and we’ll chat!
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by Joey | May 1, 2018 | Devotional Series
“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
Burn out is real. When we rely a little too much on ourselves and put entirely too much worth in our productivity, it won’t take long before we’re completely depleted. It happens. Even with the best of intentions, it’s easy to get caught up in our daily lives. Things have to get done. Work piles up and the laundry needs doing and somehow or another everyone has to get fed.
But the expectations we often put on ourselves are unrealistic and unfair. While we were all created to do incredible things, God never intended for us to run ourselves ragged. In fact, God values rest. The Bible even commands it. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Exodus 34:21. But even with a little bit of rest, sometimes it’s hard to find strength, motivation, and stamina. What do we do when it’s not our bodies but our souls that are tired?
By the end of last year, I thought I was done. For good. I thought I’d never create another thing, write another word, inspire another person. My heart, soul and creativity were completely depleted. I waved the white flag and surrendered.
I’d come to the end of myself. I was out of ideas and solutions. I pulled the cord on the treadmill, stopping dead in my tracks; lost, scared, and exhausted. Exhausted.
As someone who values productivity, giving up felt completely unnatural. But sometimes we have to come to a full stop to recalibrate. It was in those moments of stillness that I found myself having quiet conversations with God. I started to rely more on Him and less on myself. And in doing so, I felt myself slowly coming back to life; renewal. I listened instead of speaking, and new life breathed into my soul. In Him, I found clarity and direction, and I moved at His pace; a pace of sustainability.
We have a limited source of strength, friends. But hope and faith can be infinite. If we rely only on ourselves, eventually our well will run dry. But with hope and faith, our strength will continue to be renewed.
You can do anything but not everything.
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by Joey | Apr 24, 2018 | Devotional Series
For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.
Jerimiah 29:11
Months ago, I was in a scary dark place. Life has a way of just kind of throwing everything imaginable at you until you’re face down in a pillow wishing you could just disappear. I’ve been in that place a few times in my life, which is why I’m really glad I journal. When the darkness starts to creep in, I’m able to go back and remind myself I’ve been through tough stuff before and survived.
Though I am not a new believer, it is a relatively new habit for me to rely on faith when things get tough. I’ve done it before, totally inexplicably because faith was definitely not front and center in my life at the time. And in those experiences, I learned that whether I’m stressing and worrying or not, things find a way of working out.
Life got tough at the end of last year. I’ve made no secrets about that. And while I’ve always been a relatively optimistic person (it’s just my disposition), I experienced an odd sense of peace despite all the turmoil.
I always know God is at work when things get tough. In the moments of our deepest despair, I truly believe God is using us, changing us, moving us. We’re creatures of comfort and habit. We will almost always seek the path of least resistance. And unless something swoops in and forces us along, we’ll never move. We’ll never progress. We’ll never get from where we are to where we’re meant to be.
I relied hard on the above scripture in the final months of 2017. I couldn’t understand why things were going the way they were, but I did have an abundant faith that there was a greater good at play. Now, months later, I can look back and see the things from which God was protecting me.
Change is often painful and uncomfortable. We don’t usually seek it out. As humans, we like stability and predictability. But in order for you to live your best life, God is going to introduce painful things that force you to move along.
I will say this. There has never been a period of darkness in my life that didn’t make a whole lot of sense in the end. I’ve always found myself thanking God for the darkness once the light floods back in.
Celebrate the darkness friends, no matter how painful and uncomfortable it may be. It’s in those moments that God is paying you the most attention. He loves you abundantly, and when you can’t find the courage or strength to move, he will do it for you.
by Joey | Apr 18, 2018 | Joyful by Design
I went back to yoga last week for the first time in about a month. I’d been avoiding it. Ever since I took an extended break last fall, I lost my groove. And finding the energy and courage to accept the fact that I practically had to start over again was a little harder than I anticipated. It’s never easy to put yourself in a situation that you know is 1) going to be hard and 2) going to make you uncomfortable.
But ultimately, I missed yoga enough to make the decision to go. I mean, the fact that the gym is going to yank that money out of my account every month whether I show up or not helped nudge that decision along, too. Accountability.
And while I suffered through my first class back in a while, I had some pretty powerful thoughts that I realized could pretty much be applied to anything: chasing a dream, starting a new project, a fitness journey, starting a business, you name it.
Stay focused
I was shocked as I not-so-gracefully transitioned from one pose to the next that whoa, I can still do this. In the few classes I’d attended sporadically the last several months, I found balancing extremely difficult. And because of that, I’d make silly, sarcastic comments throughout the class to put myself and those suffering alongside me at ease. You know, subscribing to that whole if I call myself out on my shortcomings, it’s relatable— if someone else calls me out, it’s an insult school of thought. But I’d had a tough week last week, so I wasn’t up for much chatter throughout the class. Instead, I stayed laser-focused on the task at hand.
As a firm believer in the power of our words, I’m embarrassed to admit how shocked I was to discover how much better I did when I kept to myself and focused on just trying.
Go at your own pace
I attend a flow class. And the way that typically works is the instructor walks us through a sequence of poses and then encourages us to repeat that sequence at the pace of our breath. Now, I am usually surrounded by people who have been doing yoga for years. I only started last summer, and like I said, I took an extended break last fall. It’d be really easy for me to take one glance around the room, decide I’m a failure, and walk out.
But the truth is, where they are has nothing to do with me. If you keep going at your own pace, eventually you’ll end up where you need to go. If you give up because someone else is already doing it faster, better, or more gracefully, you’ll never progress.
Rest when you need to
You’re useless if you keep trying to push when your energy levels are depleted. Stop. Take a break. Rest. Then get up and try again.
Push through the discomfort
I wish I kept count of the number of times the instructor has told us to do something and my immediate thought was ha, yeah right, not possible. I think this might be my favorite part of yoga. Something new and different gets introduced, a pose you would never think you’re capable of, and on the other side of discomfort is success.
Sometimes things feel unnatural, but if you trust the leader, you can assume it’s possible so it’s worth trying. I’ve surprised myself on more than one occasion just by pushing through the initial discomfort. Keep going.
I think we all get way too focused on everyone else’s end result to allow ourselves to happily accept the messy middle. It’s in the midst of doing difficult things that we learn the most about ourselves. It’s where we find confidence and self-worth. If you live your whole life inside the bubble that feels safe, are you really living? Don’t just go through the motions every day. Make the decision to go after the things that you want–you have to begin somewhere. And so did everyone else.
by Joey | Apr 16, 2018 | Advice
Spring has finally sprung here in Charlotte which means lots of pollen, sunshine, and an overwhelming sense of awakening. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they spend the first few weeks of spring shedding layers both literally and figuratively? Spring tends to shine a new light on things that looked much different in the darkness of winter. Those cluttered closets suddenly feel suffocating. Your pale legs could blind a small child. And your emotional baggage feels heavier now that you’re dragging it into the daylight instead of cozying up with it on the couch in the midst of yet another Netflix binge.
I find it’s no coincidence that spring is a season of rebirth. Flowers bloom, caterpillars morph into butterflies, and you emerge from the fog that’s been sitting on your soul. Speaking of butterflies, did you know that caterpillars are born with all of the parts necessary to become a butterfly later in life? Those parts just lay dormant until it’s time for the caterpillar to use them. I find that really comforting. I believe God does the same thing with each of us. We are all equipped with everything we need at any stage in our lives; some things just lay dormant until it’s time for us to use them.
I feel like this spring I’m reaching for internal tools I never knew I had or would need to use. It’s a complicated business, decluttering your emotional life. It’s as if we spend all this time collecting people, beliefs, and feelings. But we rarely take the time to sift through everything and decide “yup, okay, you stay, You? Toss.” It’s like that iconic scene from the S&TC movie when Carrie famously tries on all the outfits from her life and her friends sit on her bed voting Keep, Toss, or Storage.
Our physical surroundings get a clear out every so often. If you’re anything like me, every few months you grow restless and you march through your house ruthless with a black trash bag. But when was the last time you did the same with the emotional baggage you carry around?
It’s heavy. But letting things in our physical world go is much easier than mentally sending up the balloon of thoughts. Physical things take up space, they nag us and remind us they no longer serve a purpose in our lives. But without our attention, our emotional load (man, I hate that word) just continues to pile up until it’s all too much.
I’d like to encourage you to give yourself some time to sift through things internally and decide what stays and what goes. Give yourself permission to let go of the things that are weighing you down. Free up your mental space to allow for new and exciting things to come into your life.
The universe abhors a vacuum. But in order for fresh, new opportunities, people, experiences, you name it, to come waltzing into your life, first you have to make space.
What’s something you’ve been carrying around that you’re prepared to let go?
