One of the most recurring words when it comes to talking to my clients, potential clients and fellow mom founders is capacity.
We often think of capacity in terms of time, but what we don't realize is we're missing a whole part of capacity that matters.
Being mom founders and entrepreneurs, it is incredibly hard to track our capacity and oftentimes we don't until it's too late. Women come to me overwhelmed, stressed and they're trying to figure out how do I juggle all these things?
You have this drive and ambition of wanting to build something that is massive and provides great financial freedom for your family but also you're human. You are sometimes denying your basic human needs for the business.
Today, let's talk about the issue of overworking and what we can do to handle all our responsibilities and not loose our freedom in the process.
The Hidden Truths Behind Overworking
Typically we're only aware of the after effects, right? Where we only know that we feel like shit. We know that our relationships are strained. We know that we are tired, either physically, emotionally, mentally, or all of the above.
A lot of times we think about treating the symptoms. I’m tired, I need a break. Or I'm emotionally exhausted, so I just need a vacation. And we definitely need mental breaks, physical breaks, and time to turn off. But it’s not enough, and it’s not dealing with the root cause. Which is why we keep ending up in the same place time and time again.
Number one, breaks are usually not happening as frequently as they do, nor do we build businesses that allow it. But the bigger problem really is that we aren't getting to why we keep ending up here.
When I'm working with clients, one of the reasons why we start with the actual schedule that they have and the time that they're spending in the business is because when you lay out exactly what you're doing, how long you're doing it for and all of your responsibilities and tasks on the table, it's very eye-opening.
And with awareness, comes change.
This is something that a lot of business owners don't take time to do, because we just keep adding stuff on, right? We want to grow and provide for our families - so we say yes to every sale, opportunity and contract.
But what if I told you that your rush to an end goal creates a habit of a goal post that is forever moving, putting you in a never-ending (and exhausting) chase?
Redefining Capacity
Most people only know and think about their capacity in terms of I have no more. I'm past capacity. I have nothing left to give. And it becomes this autopilot hamster wheel of showing up and doing the things, but it can burn you out and make you fall out of love with your business.
This keeps happening because we're not tracking our capacity. We're not paying attention to our physical and emotional signs that we're headed towards capacity and we're not physically tracking these things in our business.
We have to think of capacity not just in terms of our time. You can have somebody who is working 30 hours a week that feels over capacity, right? Especially as moms, because we have a lot of unpaid work. We are set up to overextend ourselves.
But at what point are we realizing that this is actually working against us.
We often overlook our emotional and energetic capacity.
For instance, I limit my client calls to four per day to maintain my energy levels. Reason being, if I go beyond four, my brain is mush because of the way that I coach and the discussions I'm having are at a higher level, I would say. It requires a much higher energetic output from me while it is equally fulfilling so I have to be conscious of that.
So, the problem is that we have an idea and such good awareness as women and as mothers of what we want to handle, we just don't hold ourselves to it. We think, I'll just do five calls this day. I won't always do this, but today I will, and it's never just today- and that's the problem. We're not thinking about the ripple effect of that action that we take in the short term.
We want to find:
What is my actual capacity and what can I give on a long term basis? What can I continuously give without resentment or frustration?
There's going to be periods in which you push and there's going to be periods that are more restful. If we're in a season of pushing, we need to be preventive with our care and what we are doing outside of those hours. If I know it’s gonna be a long day that requires a lot of energy for me, I need to go to bed earlier and I make sure I get a good workout in.
I can't get over how easy it is for us to solely think about the business by itself and forget about the human operating the business. It's so easy to make changes and implement new things. It's harder for us to take that bird's eye view and think about the long term.
Don’t Be Afraid of Saying No
We're often guilty of saying yes to too much out of fear and scarcity, lack of awareness of our capacity or we have awareness of it but are not holding ourselves to that. We must learn to set and uphold boundaries to protect our energy and well-being.
We're so afraid of missing out or losing something that we say yes, this would be a great opportunity for the business or I can move this appointment for myself to take this work instead. But what's the cost?
We need to consider:
How are we refueling to make sure that we can hold our capacity?
How are we setting and holding boundaries to make sure that we don't go over capacity?
Consider listing all your business responsibilities and rating them based on the energy they require.
This exercise enables you to identify tasks that drain you unnecessarily.
Based on what you see, ask yourself:
Do those hours fall in line with the hours that you want to be working?
How many hours on average do you actually need to be working?
What would be more ideal?
What would allow us to have family time after school?
What would allow us to (fill in the blank with what you value here)?
I cannot tell you how many moms feel like they can't pick up their kids from school because they're not done working yet. I purposely designed my schedule to be done at 3 p.m. because that’s when my kids get out of school. It sounds so simple but sometimes you need to give yourself permission. This is your business. You have control over the hours that you work.
Next, go through those tasks and responsibilities you have in your business and rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 with the amount of energy it takes. One would be something that's mindless, takes 0 energy from you, it's easy. Ten would be it completely depletes you. Then you can ask yourself,
Why am I keeping this in my business?
Is it something that I feel like I have to keep because it's part of my business? If so, how can I do it more efficiently?
When you audit your time of where you're spending your energy, how you're spending your energy and what's depleting you, it really allows you to see how you can better gauge your capacity.
Standards, Boundaries and Rules for a Sustainable Business
By setting standards, boundaries, and rules, we can structure our businesses for sustainability.
For example, one of my clients has different service offerings that they offer through their wellness studio. There are certain services they do that are super draining for her. We put a max capacity of how many of those appointments per day and staggered the draining appointments with lighter tasks, then she gets refilled.
Changing the way she structured her schedule by evaluating her capacity allowed her to finally feel okay at the end of her day. She found energy and happiness again.
Remember, you have the power to change anything in your business at any time. It requires overcoming the fear and scarcity mindset, but the payoff is a healthier, more sustainable business.
Self-Care for Longevity
When I'm working with people to restructure their businesses in a lot of different ways to promote more flexibility and freedom, it's scary.
Essentially, you have to choose between either doing something and being afraid while you do it or choosing to continuously be overworked and overtired.
A lot of people have just accepted almost with this victim mentality of “I chose entrepreneurship so this is just the way it is.” No, it's not. You're making that choice. Let's make a different choice.
When my clients implement these things, not only are they delivering better work, but they stop draining their teams. Because again, there is a ripple effect that we don't realize is bigger than us. That ripple effect affects everybody outside of us in ways that we may not recognize depending on how comfortable our team feels communicating with us.
Tracking and knowing your capacity creates more sustainability and longevity for the business. It allows you to feel calmer, more in control, peaceful and it gives you more time right because you're actually setting and holding the boundaries that you want to.
What we talked about today is just a small piece of the pie when it comes to your time and your energy.
If you want more on this topic, make sure that you grab the Female Founders Freedom Framework.
It is my free guide that is teaching you how to restructure your business for more freedom and flexibility. I'm addressing eight key areas of the business that you need to have structured in a certain way so that you can have time, freedom, and flexibility.
Let's empower ourselves to make decisions that prioritize our well-being and long-term success.
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