Hello lovely.
Who do you respect enough to take advice from?
Many years ago, I went to see the nurse at the doctor’s surgery. She weighed me and told me that I’d ‘put on a few pounds’ and ‘should probably make the effort to lose them.’ I probably would have taken a lot more notice of her, had it not been for the fact that she was obese.
It was like that time I was told off for smoking at school by a teacher who stunk of cigarettes.
Why on earth would I pay attention to either? You can’t really respect someone who tells you to do one thing but does another themselves. It’s why I only ask clients to do something I am prepared to do myself. Which is making next week a bit tricky.
Because you see, I am going away. I’d love to tell you I’m off to a five star spa to live the high life, but this is the real world and I am going camping in Dorset with my partner and his two boys. We’re staying in a field. The sort of field that has no power, compostable toilets and solar showers. (For the record, while I am not really a five star spa kind of girl, I am a four walls, warmth and decent bathroom one).
And this is where the trickiness starts. I’m running a business (you may have noticed). A very small one that I am nurturing and working on every single day to make a success of. I need to be online.
But I have worked most days in some shape or form since Corona virus had its say with my corporate contract and I became 100% self employed. Even if I don’t see clients, I write ideas, respond to emails, do training, read the latest journals, update my website, update business plans, track finances….and the list goes on. And if I were my client, I’d tell her she needs a break. (I’d then probably laugh a teeny bit at the fact that a tent in a field with three stinky boys isn’t much of a break, but that’s the kind of meanie I am).
So, while I have amazing business owner friends who work when they are on holiday, ones who are organised enough to use apps to post social media stuff for them automatically and others who have real life virtual assistants, I am going to take my own advice and – even though we bought a solar battery pack so I can – I won’t be doing work stuff. And I’m going to challenge myself to not look at my phone at all.
And realistically, probably nobody will even notice, but if you do, this is why I am not posting to Facebook or Instagram or blogging or responding to your email. I’ve turned on my automatic replies and I’m unplugging in every sense, so I can completely switch off. Because only when I have done it, can I ask my clients to do the same. It’s only fair that I walk my talk, isn’t it?
H.x
