Is Your Plate Full?
I agree it’s entirely my fault; I made you wait for
long.
I simply disappeared & I know it’s bad.
No, I am not going to give you any silly excuses
like
‘I was not well’ or “Had some family priorities’
or “there was an earthquake here” blah la blah :-)
In fact, today I am going to confess something.
I did a mistake & I am going to share it with
you.
And something very important, I am going to share
my ‘Back to Game Strategy’ so you can use it if you are trapped in similar
situation.
Here you go!
As I started growing my business, many new friends
joined.
Or let me correct that, many newly joined people
became friends.
I started working on their businesses, personal
consulting, on call support & a lot more.
Every possible opportunity I said ‘Yes’.
Sometimes for monetary reasons or sometimes just
because I don’t want to hurt anyone by saying ‘NO’. So I end up in saying ‘Yes’
for many things which I never planned.
And the inevitable happened.
I ended up having a big list of commitment without
knowing how I am going to complete them.
I started losing focus, less sleep, enlarged waste
line, bad health and the worst ‘less time with my family’.
I was very conscious from beginning to avoid this
kind of situation.
But somehow I got trapped.
The only good thing, I realized it fast.
If it would have been continued for some more time,
I would be broke. Financially, physically & emotionally. So I decided to
correct it.
Here is what I did. I call it ‘Back on Game’
strategy.
Step 1:
Schedule it & make it happen fast!
I made a big list of all personal trainings & other
‘Help’ sort of commitments.
Assigned them fixed time slot & date within a
months time.
Followed the schedule & hurray it was done :-) !
I declared ‘Politely’ at end of every appointment that
my schedule is full & no more Personal Training.
‘No’ for ‘call anytime’ sort of support! Hey, I
never committed that to anyone. But that is what I was doing.
Step 2: Social
Media Diet
Till then I had strongly believed that I am not a
social media type of a person.
But here is what happened.
I quit from all ‘Find Inspiration/Motivation
forwards’ or ‘Just for TP’ or similar sort of ‘WhatsApp‘ groups. And suddenly I started
getting significant amount of time.
Same is applicable for Facebook. Removed the Facebook
App from my mobile.
See, I use Facebook only for business purpose
& for me all business is handled through my laptop & not on phone. So
obviously it was a time spoiler for sure.
Step 3:
Unsubscribed
When I like some service or a speaker, I opt in for
his/her newsletter.
To my disbelief I was getting more than 40 such mails
every week.
These are extra mails apart from your awesome
reply mails
Clearing my mailbox was a major time consuming
activity.
Replying your mails is ‘Must’ but these additional
mails were eating away loads of time.
I simply unsubscribed the extra ones!
Step 4:
Start living the real life
I thought about ‘the one’ thing which makes me
happy.
That thing is spending time with my daughter.
I started taking her to gardens, her favourite
food joints, toy shops, hobby classes & new flavoured ice-creams every day
(Gosh! It is 42 degrees outside).
Every night when she says ‘Thank you mom, it was the
best day today!”
Bingo! All stress & tiredness disappears in a flash.
It was a pure sense of satisfaction &
achievement.
Step 5:
Do what you love!
Now here is one thing I did totally wrong.
Stopped sending my regular newsletter.
I am a creative person.
Every small piece of content I publish every week,
satisfies my creative hunger.
I connect with awesome people. That is what I love
the most!
I decided to correct it fast.
But to avoid such a situation I learnt this
mantra,
You must say ‘No’ when the plate is already full.
Both meanings hold true.
Now I am back with a Clear Focus & selected
commitments.
That’s my way of ‘business & life’ which I
love!
That’s all at my end.
I would like to know about you.
Have you ever faced a similar situation? What is your
‘back to game’ strategy?
What’s your definition of ‘business & life’?
Hit reply & let me know.
Did you like this article? If so, share it with
your friends.
Thank you so much for reading!
I will catch you next time.
Stay Tuned.
Take Care
Sheetal Mulay
