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In this episode of Creatives Crushing Anxiety, I share 4 things I do in my life that have a positive effect on my business.
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Now, as you know, this podcast is all about sharing ideas, theories, and just tips and tricks to help you live a more enjoyable life as a business owner, to help you prevent anxiety and things that can really improve the way that you’re living and working so that you can have the best business and the best life. So today, I wanted to share some things that I do that helped me work in my zone of genius, helped me not be so stressed out and overly busy, that don’t necessarily have to do with my business, but have this great domino effect.
Order My Groceries
So the first thing on the list is I order my groceries. I know that sounds really simple. But I find ordering my groceries not only saves me so much time but is just so much better in so many ways. Now, let me start by saying, I caught myself kind of shaming myself about this because I remember the first time I heard of someone getting their groceries delivered, I was like, “That’s so lazy.” And now that I do it, I always have the excuse, “Well, I live on the third floor.”
But the truth is, it’s so much more than that. It’s much more than having to lug groceries up two flights of stairs when I think about how much I’m making an hour on client work versus the hour and a half to two hours it takes me to do my own grocery shopping, it’s well worth it for me to pay someone else. I use Shipt it’s $99 a year, and there’s a small markup on the groceries. And then you tip. So you pay that $99 once a year and you get your groceries delivered to you.
When people hear, “Oh, there’s a markup? That’s a rip-off.” This past week, ran a little test. I went on the website of the grocery store that I shop at which is HEB. It’s it may not be in your part of the country. But it’s huge here in Texas. I went to their website and I went to Shipt and everything that was in my ship cart I found in the HEB online order. And it was about a $7 difference total of all the things I’d ordered, a $7 increase. So $7 more to use to Shipt. But on top of that, I still had to pay the delivery fee if I was going to use HEB. So that would actually be about a $2 increase. Once I added in that fee of the $5 for the delivery (both without the tip). And I just thought my time is worth more than $2 or $7. And, and this may or may not work for you. I think it just depends on the type of shopper that you are. But when I go online and buy my groceries, I usually have the list that I add to once I realize I’m out of something, I grabbed that, open the website, put the things into my cart, and usually stick to just those things, I sometimes will go look to see what’s on sale and if it’s anything that makes sense to buy. But I find that I also spend less when I shop online than if I go in the store because there are so many things there in real-time that you see that can really just draw you in.
The way that this helps me I business is, first of all, I am saving precious, precious time. Because it’s not just going to the store. It’s literally like you have to go to the store, you have to be at the store, you have to wait in line, you have to check out you have to lug everything into your home. It saves me so much time where I can be doing other more productive things or even just relaxing. Yesterday was a Sunday and I had my groceries delivered and I was watching Lifetime movies. But it was so nice to not have to leave the house. And I could just relax and have that lazy Sunday, but then still have the items that I needed to make my meals for the week.
This is just one of those things that I think help with the abundance mindset. If any of you are around my age, you’re probably used to go to the grocery store with your mom on the weekend and helping them bring all the stuff in and just the idea of someone delivering your groceries right to you doors is so fancy, It can help that abundance mindset. Because it is a luxury, it’s not something that you necessarily have to do. And I do sometimes still go to the store if I’m not buying over a certain amount or if I need like wine or something. But it does make me feel a little bit fancy. And that helps with me knowing that I deserve nice things and helps with that mindset.
Schedule Lunch With Friends
Now the next thing is I schedule lunches with friends, A lot of times people talk about how they get lonely or a little stir crazy working from home all day. And I don’t necessarily feel like I fall in that category. I love the isolation of working from home, I feel like I’m a lot less distracted. And I can get more work done in less time than if I was in a traditional office setting. And I can also work when I feel like working as far as like, “Am I having a bad day? I’m having a depressive period. Am I in my dark and twisty places?” I like to say because of Grey’s Anatomy. Like there are so many benefits. But there it’s a problem when you enjoy that isolation and you can get in the zone so easily. And that’s that you just keep working. And I’ve talked about this on different interviews I’ve given, how sometimes I’m so into what I’m working on, I could forget to eat. And then I’m like, “Oh my God, why am I so violently angry right now?” “Because you’re hungry Dia.”
I have started to try to maybe schedule once a week, or at least every two weeks a lunch with a friend who works a nine to five. And that way it’s like, Okay, I know, at 12 o’clock, I need to leave here and go meet Lindsay at wherever we’re going to eat, or whoever I’m going to be, it’s just a little break from the day you get some sunshine, you step away from your computer, and then you can kind of come back with a refreshed mind and a full belly. So I feel like just making the point to have that connection, especially if you’re single if you live by yourself and you work at home by yourself just to have these social events scheduled in is a really, really good thing for you.
I think that the way that that helps your business, it helps you avoid burnout. And like I said, it gives you a chance to step away from whatever you’re working on and then come back with a fresh perspective, or where you’re not so zoned in and so focused on whatever it was that you can’t see the big picture, you can identify the little problems. stepping away really allows you to do that.
Mid-Day Workout
Now the third thing is midday workouts. This is not something I do every day, this is something that I strategically put on my calendar from time to time when I know I want to keep my energy up. 45 minutes to an hour to go do a 30-minute workout, come back, stretch, shower, make a post-workout smoothie and then get back to work. It just gives you the endorphins and it boosts your energy so it can kind of taper off some of that sluggishness. And I find that it does a much better job than any kind of caffeine that you’re going to put into your body just moving getting moving and bringing your heart rate up.
So not only is it good for you physically, but it’s good for you mentally, once again, it’s a chance to take a break from whatever it is that you’re doing. And just really allow yourself to get out of your head and into your body. And then also, if you’re working at home, you probably spend a lot of time sitting down at a desk, maybe you stand. But this gets you away from the screen and off of your butt.
If you have a really, really busy day, what I like to do, once again, another Grey’s Anatomy reference, I like to dance it out, like how if I know I’m about to get on a call, or I’ve just gotten off a call, or I just finished a task that I needed to get done. And since I time block my days, a lot of times I’ll find myself ahead of schedule. So I’ll be like Alexa, play whatever song it is that I want to listen to and nd I’ll just have a little dance break, and it wakes you up. And it helps you kind of shake off some of that desk slump and really just get back into yourself a little bit. So even if you don’t have time to do a full workout, just a mini solo dance break, it’s less than five minutes and it gets you up and moving.
Personal Development Books
And the last thing is personal development books. Now, as we discussed on the episode with Meg Baker, that entrepreneurship is a deep dive into personal development. And I find the more that I deal with my personal demons and my BS and all the mindset things that hold me back in life, the better I do in business, because even if you’re thinking, “How in the world does my dad leaving when I was five, affect how much money I’m making?” Then you really dive into it. And it’s like, “Oh, crap, I have a low worth because I didn’t feel like I was worthy after that event and I’ve held on to that my whole life. And that’s why I attract customers who don’t want to pay me what I’m worth.” That’s just an example.
When you actually stop and really dive into who you are, why you do the things that you do, what are the stories you’re telling yourself, then you open up the door for so much more success and so much more happiness. So I definitely think everyone should be on some sort of path of personal development and self-discovery be that through reading books, be that through therapy, however, you go about it. I think everybody’s journey is a little bit different. But I think that that can help you in so many areas, including business.
A few books that I definitely would recommend for personal development is The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, this book totally changed my life, it really opened my eyes to some of the things that I have been struggling with, like, my entire life. It’s actually a book that I revisit often. Typically, when I travel, I like to have a couple of audiobooks on my phone, for the plane ride or drive or whatever. And if I get to the point where if I’m on a plane and I know I’m gonna fall asleep, like this last trip I took to LA I had really early flight. So what I would do is turn on the big leap by gay Hendricks and listen to it until I fall asleep.
Another one is The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein. It is such a good book, probably my favorite book that I’ve read of hers. Obviously, I haven’t heard her new one Super Attractor yet. But it just really really allows you to see your ownership of the things that happened in your life and understand that things are there to work out in your good.
Another one would be Abundance Now by Lisa Nichols, who actually as a client of mine. She is such a shining example of how your past and the things that have happened to you don’t necessarily decide who you are, where you go. You decide who you are, who you become and where you go in life and the things that you can accomplish and that you can accomplish greatness.
And finally what kind of personal development list would this be without You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero. Both of her books, You Are A Badass and You Are A Badass At Making Money are so good and so wrong. So real. And it’s so funny because she sounds very “Woo”. But then she also sounds like she would never buy into the woo stuff because she is kind of like this rocker chick and so unapologetic, and so hilarious.
So just to recap the four things that I do in my life to help me improve my business are I order my groceries online, I scheduled lunch dates with friends, I have midday workout sessions/dance parties, and I read personal development books and act on those books as well. And I do want to make a note that you can’t just read it and not change anything. You have to read it and take action.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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Update: I no longer use Shipt and have switched to InstaCart. They have more locations in my area and delivery more variety. While I think Shipt is great for some people. I personally prefer Instacart. You can use my link to join InstaCart and save $10.
You Are A Badass At Making Money
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