I don’t know about you, but when I decided to leave my corporate career and start my own business, my main desire was to have more freedom and flexibility in my life.
I was tired of working 9-5, Monday to Friday for 48 weeks of the year and I couldn’t imagine doing this for the rest of my working life.
But the truth is for the first few years of running my own business, I was still stuck in that 9-5 mindset. In fact, I often felt that I was working harder than I’d ever done in my old corporate role.
Part of this was due to the fact that starting a new business can be tough. You need to put a lot of energy and time into creating your new venture.
BUT a big part of my ‘work-work-work’ approach was that I had some unhelpful beliefs running, beliefs like ‘You have to work really hard to make money’ and ‘It’s lazy to relax’.
Often in the mornings my husband would ask me what I was doing that day and I would immediately feel defensive. I felt that I had to justify how I was spending my day and reel off a long list of work I’d be doing.
If there were days when I was planning to take some time for me and go for a drive down to the beach for a walk or meet friends for lunch, Mr H would comment how I was living ‘The life of Riley’. This always got my back up and I would go straight into defensive mode again, telling him how hard I was working and often getting upset in the process.
I was still in that mindset of ‘It’s lazy to take time for you. You need to work, work, work’, so I felt guilty any time I didn’t have my nose to the grindstone.
It was only a couple of years ago, when I was out walking one day that I asked myself this expansive question:
‘What’s wrong with living the life of Riley? Isn’t this why I created my own business, so I could live the life I wanted and not work every hour I had?’
As I asked myself that question, I felt myself relaxing. It was such a relief to acknowledge that actually it was okay to take time to do the things I loved.
I had consciously created my business and I could allow it to be easy.
From that point on, I started to think much more about how I wanted to spend my time. As much as I could, I worked when it felt good and took time out when I needed or wanted to.
Of course, I still had clients to see and all of the other ‘stuff’ that makes up a business (marketing, sales, content-creation, admin), but whatever I was doing, I’d ask myself the question, ‘Am I living the life of Riley right now?’
This question kept me focused on running my business and living my life in the way I desired – with freedom, flexibility and plenty of fun.
And the wonderful thing is that since I started to adopt my ‘life of Riley’ approach, my business has flourished, my income has doubled and I’m working far fewer hours.
(Note: Please know, there are still times when I find myself tearing my hair out, feeling stressed and wondering how I’ve managed to book my diary solid, but these happen far less often).
In March I had the best month ever in my business. As I was sharing this with Mr H we realised that I have now overtaken him in the income stakes and I pointed out that I’m working part-time, about 20-25 hours a week.
His immediate response was, ‘Well how much could you make if you worked 40-50 hours a week?’
Seriously, 40-50 hours!
This is such a masculine response, ‘You’re doing well, but you could be doing better if you worked harder, Come on! Keep taking more action. Push, push, push!’
In the past, I might have felt defensive and jumped on the counter-attack, but I simply pointed out that my business just wouldn’t work that way.
- It’s the fact that I’m only working 20-25 hours a week that allows the money to flow to me.
- It’s the fact that I allow myself lots of time to relax and have fun that I have plentiful energy to create a successful business.
- It’s the fact that I enjoy my work that allows me to attract my ideal clients.
As I explained this to Mr H, he actually got it. And in that moment, I appreciated how far I had come.
So, how about you? Does it feel like you’re living the life of Riley right now (whatever that looks like for you)? Or does it all feel like really hard work (for little reward)?
If it’s the latter, I’d love to help. Often speaking with someone else can help us see where we’re holding ourselves back, so let’s have a chat.
If you’d like to apply for one of my complimentary Clarity Calls, just click here to access my diary and you can schedule a time for us to speak.
Here’s to your life of Riley!
