Episode 29 - The Benefits of Taking a Break From Your Business

Hello there it's Charlotte from Creative Goddess Club. And I'm back with another episode of the Creative Goddess Show.

 

It's Friday, and it's the weekend again, woohoo!

 

I swear, last weekend went so quickly. I was very busy with my podcast launch for my, my new course Simply Start your Passion Podcast and I was so engrossed in all of it.

 

I've also not been very well recently - I’ve had a bit of COVID unfortunately. So I've been recovering from that and I swear last weekend, just it was gone  that.

 

So this weekend I'm excited to have a little bit more relaxation and also when I'm allowed out, I can go and see my family and friends again. So that's going to be awesome.

 

And I hope you've got something amazing planned too. I'm so excited to hear what you get up to - always update me on social media! I want to know where you're listening from.

 

If you could tag me @creativegoddessclub, that would be so awesome because I know that so many of you around the world are listening to this and I just want to see where you are. I want to put a name to the face - that would be so cool.

 

So I want to talk to you today about something that’s quite topical for me. As I said, I've been a little bit unwell and I am someone who, for example… if I go on holiday, I don't  resting too much. I say resting because obviously going on holiday is a rest in itself - isn’t it?

 

But I'm not very good at lying around on a sun lounger in the sunshine, which sounds a bit crazy. I obviously do enjoy the sunshine and I love all the goodness that comes with sunshine, vitamin D makes me feel really good!

 

But I just can't go on a holiday where I'm just kind of lying on the lounge or doing reading for days and days on end. I could probably do it for one or two days, but no more than that really. I'm definitely one of the people who just s to be active and going around and exploring.

 

So why is this relevant? Well, because today in this episode, I'm going to be talking to you about the importance of resting in your business, because I think we can get to the point sometimes where we are just go, go, go. Active, active, active. Whether that's on social media, whether that's talking to people a lot and just using up a lot of energy.

 

And I don't think we realise sometimes how much energy we are actually using by being an entrepreneur. It requires a lot of energy and I'm not just talking physical energy like talking to people and creating lots of different things.

 

But it's also about mental energy. We're always thinking aren't we, about different things that we can do in our businesses.

 

And there's always those mindset demons as well, creeping in. I think that they can really get to us some times and drain our energy without us even realising - to the point where sometimes we do get a bit unwell and we don't know how to rest!

 

We don't have to just stop and BE. I'm definitely someone who is very guilty of not having proper cut off times when I'm working. Sometimes if I'm just really all in on something, I will want to continue doing that maybe in the evening sometimes, and maybe on weekends too, because I just want to see it through and I want it to be… the best possible version of, of what it can be.

 

So naturally, you know, my passion shines through a lot in my business, but that can also lead to feeling quite drained.

 

And also, like I said, when I'm not feeling very well, I can really, really struggle to take those required breaks.

 

And I say this from experience. So yesterday after days of working on my course and putting it out on social media and sending emails and all those various things that come with launching a new product - I just felt so tired.

 

I reached a point in the afternoon where I was just, I was unable to do anything else. I just thought, you know what, I need some surrender to this.

 

I need to just be… I just need to open myself up to the benefits of having a break.

 

And I know, I know the importance of self-care. I totally get that. And I am actually really good with things  self-care. I mean… taking nice baths and reading and going out for walks and things - I'm very good at that, but I'm not so good at almost taking a nap in the middle of the day, which is what I ended up doing yesterday.

 

So I just reached this point.  Like I said, a feeling of absolutely just being exhausted and that will have been, because of how ill I had been and maybe tiredness as well.

 

So I kinda just felt like - I'm going to take a nap and I'm gonna see what happens, and that's what I did.

 

I think it was only for about 90 minutes. I woke up and I was like, okay, I do feel a bit better now.

 

It just helps sometimes to just acknowledge that that is what your body needs. So if you're, if you're feeling like me and you feel like you've just got to keep going and going and going, when you're not feeling yourself, you might not be feeling a 100%.

 

Please give yourself permission to take that physical break from doing, doing, doing all the time, because it will work wonders.

 

And once you give yourself that permission, it really opens yourself up to giving yourself permission to do other things too.

 

It just made me feel so much better because I knew that I'd done something good for myself. And it was, it was actually the best thing that I could possibly have done.

 

So I was like, I made the right call there. Another example I want to give you is last week, I was so far into creating my course and putting it out there.

 

And sometimes I think we can get quite overwhelmed as entrepreneurs  doing those kinds of things. You know, when you're really full on fully focused on something, you don't realise how much you're thinking about it.

 

How much energy you're actually putting into it. And what happened was I reached a point later on in the day where I just felt so mentally exhausted.

 

And I was like, look, what I'm going to do is I'm going to surrender basically.

 

It's something that my amazing mentor, Carrie Green, from the Female Entrepreneur Association, she talks about in her videos and on her podcasts as well.

 

She talks about basically just surrendering to whatever is out there you believe in, maybe you don't believe in something..

 

I'm not exactly sure, but I believe in some form of “magic” - as I like to call it it, my version of something out there.

 

I was saying, look, I'm surrendering to that thing and show me some kind of sign that this is going to be OK.

 

You know, sometimes we just need that reassurance as entrepreneurs to be like, you know, it’s working for you.

 

Maybe I'm not acknowledging what's around me enough, but I think it takes us stopping and taking that break to actually properly acknowledge all the magic that's out there at work whilst we're kind of head in the game.

 

So I'll tell you what happened actually as a result of taking a break in my business whether that's in the day or maybe it's for a few days, maybe it's going on holiday.

 

If you haven't taken a holiday for ages and ages, it's all about what can happen for you and for your business when you do that.

 

So I'm going to give you three things, the benefits of taking that break in your business. And I will give you examples from my own personal experience and also just sort of general things that can happen as a results of taken a break.

 

So the first thing that I'm going to tell you about is what happened to me last week. So carrying on from my story before, when I decided to take that mental break from my day and just say, look, I surrender, just show me a sign that, you know, things are at work around me and things are going well.

 

And what I did was I took the whole evening off. I was reading a book in the bath - a fictional book as well!

 

I didn't read anything really related to my business. I was just like, I'm taking a step back today. And I wake up the next morning and I had an email from Etsy (I haven't spoken much about it at sea before because I don't really have a proper Etsy shop that's up and running with loads and loads of products. I literally have about five products in my Etsy store).

 

It dates back to when I had my travel blog. So there's a couple of things on that all travel related and I didn't really use it that much or promote it. I've been meaning to build up a lot more since, but I just haven't got round to it yet. So just watch the space, I'll be putting things into my Etsy store in the near future!

 

But yeah, what happened was I had this notification and it said that I'd had a sale. And I was like… what? That's crazy, because I saw that the product has sold and it's been in my shop for about two years since I had my travel blog.

 

And it's about social media travel content ideas - it was  a PDF that I created and put on for like £2.

 

Someone had actually bought that and I'd forgotten that it - I thought I'd taken that one down… but no someone actually bought it!

 

And to have such one of those notifications from Etsy telling me someone's just found me and bought something of mine… It was a fantastic reminder that all that energy I've been using, putting things out there into the world over this time, it's actually doing something.

 

Taking the action is actually resulting in people, finding me, people buying things.

 

And it was just such an amazing, amazing sign. And you might say, well, that's just a coincidence, Charlotte. But I say it's really magical because he was literally like, “I need to take a step back today from what I'm doing.”

 

Then magically the next morning I received that notification, and I just thought, you know, that is not just a coincidence!

 

I'm not believing it's just a coincidence because there were so many other examples of this kind of thing happening. I think when you realise that if you're just trying every day to become a little bit better and a little bit better, even just the tiniest bit, you will improve so much over time and you're putting things out value, putting the right energy out there.

 

It was just a great reminder that taking the action is actually resulting in something really, really cool. So that's my first reason.

 

So just to summarise, if you take a break from your business, something amazing could just happen. The Universe will send you a message encouraging you to keep going and look at what's happening out there.

 

“Charlotte, you know what you've been doing all this time, things are happening out there and this was a sign to show you that.”

 

So that is my first reason. My second reason is, well, you might actually get a new perspective on something in your business.

 

If you take a break from it, sometimes we got tunnel vision don't we - we're just looking straight down that tunnel at the one thing that we are focusing on at that time.

 

And we just forgot about everything else that is available to us sometimes. I think that can be quite detrimental to our business because, we aren't acknowledging what's possible.

 

We're not thinking about the alternative ways of doing things. Sometimes we hear advice on how to do something from an experts like an expert in online courses or an expert in online marketing.

 

We think, well, they are saying I have to do it this way, so I'll have to do it this way. Right??

 

But no, that's not necessarily true. There are always alternatives. And whether it's taking the time to actually read a helpful email from someone that you maybe didn't have the time to open when you were too busy in your business.

 

Maybe just taking that time out and actually seeing these cool ideas in these emails that we didn't open actually gives us a whole new perspective on things.

 

Maybe taking the time to actually read a book and something might just pop out of the page and just say, “Hey, didn't you think about this?”

 

It also gives you some extra reassurance as well. If you're looking at a video, if you start watching some YouTube videos from speakers that you enjoy watching, they might give you some inspirational advice.

 

So yeah, taking a break from your business can actually result in guessing extra inspiration and thinking about alternative ways of doing things, new ideas, a new sense of creativity.

 

So that's the second amazing reason that taking a break really, really will work for you.

 

And then the third reason is that, well, physically you are resting yourself.

You are conserving energy to give back to work on your business and being able to unleash that energy in the right way, rather than letting it drain away when you're feeling anxious and stressed.

 

If you take a break from your business when you're feeling it’s all a bit too much… if you're reaching that point where it's actually becoming counter productive to continue working on your business that day.

 

I think that this is definitely the case for a lot for creatives in particular. If you don't have that creative energy to work on it, then maybe taking a break is one of the best things you can do and you can get that extra inspiration.

 

But at the same time you're also conserving energy and you'll be able to use it and a much better way when you return to working on your business when you have taken that break.

 

So those are my three reasons why taking a break in your business is actually a really good idea. And it's specifically aimed at those people out there who gets a little bit bogged down sometimes with their business and they feel like they have to just keep going and keep going.

 

But they don't. I'm definitely one of those people who feels that way. And I think maybe from working in corporate industry, that whole idea of - you need to keep going and continue working even if you don't feel a hundred percent, - I always used to be like that.

 

Sometimes taking a break can be frowned upon. Right?!  In society, I feel  that whole notion of taking a break to just be kind to yourself - that's actually not considered to be the right thing to do.

 

So I'm just telling you that actually, it’s okay. And I see you because I am just  like you and have always struggled to take a break. I just want to give you a reminder that taking a break is okay.

 

I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I am going to start doing videos as well as the podcast, because I just think it's really helpful to be able to see the person who's talking to you.

 

When you're listening to the podcast, if you so wish I know a lots of you  to just listen on the audio, which is, which is fine as well.

 

I love listening to podcasts when I'm in the gym, and also when I'm going on walks - but occasionally I do just go and watch videos on YouTube as well.

So I'm going to continue with this now and just give you the option of being able to watch or just listen.

 

So, go and check it out on the video. If you're watching, or if you're listening on podcasts and vice versa, go and download the podcast version.

 

That’s the end of today's episode, but I also just wanted to share with you that my Simply Starts Your Passion Podcast course is it's actually available and ready for you!

 

If you want to get started on your podcast in a really simple way with free tools and you don't want that technical overwhelm - go and check it out here.

 

It's my brand new online course, with five modules and you can get started today for just £99, but go and check out the info page where there's a little bit more detail on the modules.

 

So I can't wait to see you inside! It's such a huge thing that I'm passionate about. As you know, I love this podcast and I want to help so many more of you get started on yours because it's such a great opportunity to get more visible in your industry.

 

A podcast is a great creative outlet too and also a fab way to connect with your audience in a more personal way. I just love talking on here because it's so easy to share those personal and relatable stories. So if this sounds like something you are looking to have in your business, go and check it out here!

 

Of course, if you have any questions at all, please send me an email to hello@creativegoddessclub.com or you can send me a direct message on Instagram. I would be so happy to chat with you about the course.