Struggling to Get the Work Done?

There are times of the year when it just feels more challenging to get the “work” of running a business done.

 This is one of those moments. It’s not just that winter is a time of stillness; it is the sacred pause. A space for solitude, integration, and quiet.

 With the holiday season smack in the middle of it. Time for family, festivities, ho-ho-hoing, hannukah’ing, kwanza’ing…

 While there is some acknowledgement of spending special time with individuals, the general market is one of hurry, party, and wedging the sacred into a very tight window. And somewhere in there is time for work.

 This is a time of competing priorities. I LOVE the holidays. Finding the near-perfect gift for someone is a high I don’t get any other way.

 Diving into catalogues, finding new online stores, the local gem- delicious!

 I want to spend time with family. Not days and days, but some focused special time is important to me. Since my family is spread over five states, it can be a challenge.

 I want to nurture my spiritual and creative sides. I pull cards, I ask how I can be more in touch with my soul, my guides, angels, dragons…

 This year, I’m integrating a health issue with a loved one that will change every day for the rest of my life. What it means and how to keep things as “normal” as possible. It’s part of my spiritual journey, not carrying someone else and supporting them, even as they are supporting me in new ways.  

 I’d love to spend hours cross-stitching and creating plans for the spring and summer garden.

 My business is evolving, partly due to necessity and partly out of a desire to achieve more with less. I’m digging into new ways (for me) of doing business, even as I desire to be still and quiet.

 Then there are the daily requirements of staying in business. The marketing, the resource issues, planning, customer service, content creation, delivering, and creating offers- all things that are energizing and time-consuming.

 Tossed into this is the energetic impact of ongoing local, national, and global challenges. It impacts you- even when you think it doesn’t.

 My desire is to be in flow. To focus on where my heart and soul lead in every moment of every day.

 On any given day, staying in or getting into flow may be challenging.

 At this time of year, when the flow is asking me to be still, all of those other priorities get in the way, perceptively.

 Focus on your priorities, let the rest go.

 And winter isn’t just about stillness and slowing down. It’s about completing, composting so that the new can emerge strong and resilient.

 The question I ask myself is, “Where in my flow are the aspects of completion?” In other words, what feels good to me in this moment that holds the energy of winter and, on some level, taps into my flow.

 For instance, yesterday I was sitting in the question when my eyes landed on the accounting that’s been sitting on my desk for months. I had an open three-hour block of time, and there was an issue somewhere in my July/August books that needed to be sorted to close my books for the year. Sorting that out and completing the books through 1 December certainly ticks the completing box. I don’t have any distractions for a few hours, so I can do whatever is required without disruption. A sense of expansion came that I hadn’t had around this project for months.

 Approach every moment with the knowledge that you do not have to party until the sun comes up or work 14 hours a day. Grant yourself the space to shop or wrap a few presents in the middle of the day, to review funnel emails in the evening.

 This is time to feed all of you. Winter is asking you to absorb all that you accomplished this year, to consider next year’s plans, to consider your heart’s desire, and what it all means for the next year.

 Sometimes that looks like holding on to a cup of hot chocolate and staring out the window, sometimes that looks like completing accounting work, sometimes that is redesigning your funnels.

 It’s pulling cards and being honest about where your intuition is saying no. It’s sitting in the prospect of sameness or of change- all to grow or maintain the life you love (or want to create).

 Getting the business of business done right now takes on a different flavor. You might be head down in creation and preparation for the New Year Offer. Allow yourself the time to look at old offers and ask what worked well, what felt good? Don’t push forward simply to get it done.

 Sit in the ‘used to be’ so that you can get to brilliance in the ‘now and next’.

 Give yourself grace for the balancing act. You are in a body, on a 3D planet. Compassion and patience are very much required when functioning here.

Use the winter stillness to open a question for clients you no longer work with, “Is it time for them to do more work with you?” Ask them. Give them the space to consider. What would it mean to work with you in the new year?

 Keep it simple, keep it straightforward, keep it from your heart.

 The stillness you find will bring ideas to you- those ideas don’t have to be acted upon immediately. Many of them aren’t meant to be developed until spring. Capture the information, trust that it will be with you when you are called to build it.

Your time spent reflecting, integrating, and composting all of the events of this year is your work. Don’t confuse busy-ness with the work of business.