I recently invested in an extra day of child care every other week. Almost simultaneously, my youngest daughter started sleeping through the night.
I threw out all of my hard-earned time management techniques that have gotten me through as a working mom, letting all that extra time and energy turn me into a yes-saying machine.
- I landed a new client contract doing business analysis work.
- I took on a new coaching client.
- I committed to creating a new presentation for a virtual conference.
Each of these had big potential and I was drawn to them from somewhere deep inside me.
But then I felt the time management stretch….because what I wanted even deeper down was to be here helping all of you. And there just never seemed to be enough time to meet my commitments and be here as much as I wanted.
I remember thinking that if I was somehow more disciplined and loved the work, everything would auto-magically get done.
But instead, I ended up delaying the development of a new course by nearly a full month. The income from this course was in my revenue plan and it was only partially covered by what I was making from the new client.
Right now, like in this moment, we’re doing a little scrambling to get it live before the year-end slow down.
To get to this point, of successfully scrambling, I had to start saying “no”. Here are some of the things I’m saying no to these days.
- Renewing my sponsorship for a local professional group, freeing up 8 evenings next year to do more momstyle stuff.
- Logging into Infusionsoft. We’re in the midst of implementing an entirely new marketing system and I haven’t even logged in yet! Instead, I’m choosing to empower my virtual assistant to work magic so I can pay attention to our business objectives and the overall flow of the solution.
- I got the new client to phase out my contract, by not leaning in to find new ways to add value. That was hard because I’m typically the go-getter type.
- Volunteering at my pre-schoolers Halloween party. I did it last year (with a 5-month old in tow) and it was the opposite of fun for me.
Saying “no” is essential if you want to receive the flexible aspect of a momstyle business that comes from a place of your personal value system. It’s the biggest time management tip I have for working moms, because there is absolutely no way to get everything done that you could spend your time of. What’s more, saying “no” is one way we embrace our own power because it creates the space we need to say yes to the right things.
What have you said “no” to lately?
(By the way, one of the things I’ve said yes to recently was taking a Facebook group class and starting a new Facebook group. Click here to join the group.)