What are you not aware of in your business?
When you start a business there’s a lot to be aware of: your budget and income, your goals, your clients and customers, your metrics and marketing, branding and website and technology “stack,” and on and on and on.
How about awareness of … you? The business owner?
Business growth requires personal awareness. And personal awareness is good for more than just business.
– Patty Ryan Lee
So much of our business is about being aware of the external (see list above) and yet, so much more of our business actually factors on us, the business owner. How we feel one day to the next, what we can physically or mentally manage from one hour to the next, and how we can connect and disconnect with our workday today all show up in our work.
Are you aware of what days you work best? What hours? On what things? If yes, how did you come to this awareness? If no, when will you start?
Because let me tell you: an awareness of self highlights a lot of things to be aware of in business. Business growth requires personal awareness. And personal awareness is good for more than just business.
At the start of 2021, I knew something was wrong on Mondays. And not just the typical “aw, fuck, it’s Monday.” Something in my body felt… off. I literally woke up not feeling well and had to drag myself in front of the computer and physically force myself to put my hands on the computer keyboard.
So in April, I decided to “close up shop” on Mondays and focus on connecting with my body again, giving my brain a rest, not working, and just… be.
Is this a planetary day thing? Monday’s belonging to the Moon, which governs our body? Is my body syncing with an astrological clock? Perhaps. But knowing I don’t “function well” on Mondays has given me this sort of permission to not force myself to show up on Mondays. This, in turn, has altered a multitude of mindsets and habits inside, and outside, of my business.
The habits that got me to that point themselves vary and are tenuous, but the results of being here are not. My business has shifted immensely already.
I am more focused during my work week, which means more quality work and “higher productivity” and more relaxed on my days off, which means I’m able to actually take days off and not work.
Had I not become aware, and had the desire to thus understand why Mondays weren’t working, where would I be in business right now? I can’t say.
How about you?
Are you aware of yourself in your own business? You audit your books, your social strategy, your metrics, and engagement…
When was the last time you audited… yourself?