Stressed or overwhelmed? Here are some ideas to make business light and fun

Ever think to yourself, you're not doing enough? 
We share a perspective shift that may help you to change your habits and patterns.

We talk about the 80/20 rule, practical tips and tools you can incorporate to make work feel lighter and less stressful. 

What rules do you have in your mind that may be blocking you from what you want to achieve?

You can find Ané and Stacey on Instagram at:
Ané - @ane.mgmnt
✦ https://www.instagram.com/mgmnt__/
https://msha.ke/anemgmnt

Stacey - @barefootbranding
✦ instagram.com/barefootbranding
🌐 barefootbranding.academy
https://barefootbranding.academy/eyes-above-waitlist/

Visit us here: 🌐 trustingtheuniverseandshit.com
Email us: 📩 hello@trustingtheuniverseandshit.com

Intro music by Tyler Dixon from @tones.on.toast - tonesontoast.com

Transcript

Ané: 0:00

if you have this like vision of yourself as a business owner that has this really light flowing business What does she do every day? What what what's the habits that she has created for herself

Stacey: 0:12

Telling ourselves why we have to do things a certain way I think sometimes it's just that permission slip that we need to give ourselves because if we have our own business, we give ourselves that permission

Ané: 0:25

Hello everyone, stacey and I were just talking just before we started recording about the topic for today. And today we want to really just, yeah, share a bit of insight and some lights about how to make life and business fun and playful and light. When you can because I think we tend to just get really like stuck in these like pressured energy So I want to talk about that today

Stacey: 0:56

Yes, the pressure cooker of, I must make money, I must continue my exponential growth and growth at all costs and yeah, so I love that we're going to talk about this today. I feel like that it's something that sometimes we forget that making business fun and light should be a priority.

Ané: 1:19

Exactly and you know as we're starting the new year you may know like notice some patterns or behaviors or like Definitely I have that you want to shift and I think it's a perfect time to do that It's a perfect time to just be like Obviously be compassionate with yourself and come from a place of like curiosity and observe yourself be like, okay, is this actually going to serve me the way that I'm reacting or, you know, putting playing in this sort of old way in 2024. Yeah, because like you said, I think, yeah, societal society has always. Put us in these little boxes and then put pressure because you have to achieve X, Y and Z at this age and that. And it's just like, all of this stuff is just nonsense at the end of the day, like, let's be real.

Stacey: 2:08

Yeah, especially when you hit, there's this, you know, when I'm 30 or when I'm 40 or, you know, those significant milestones when people want to hit a certain thing, you know, 30 under 30, I want to hit this thing. And when you get there and you realize your life looks totally different to what you thought it looked like, it can be really shocking to the system when you had that expectation and then not to meet it. And yeah, I think that it's going to be. I think it's good to explore this idea that, Hey, maybe it doesn't need to look exactly like you thought, and maybe the goal instead of getting a certain amount of money or a certain amount of likes, followers, it's to see how you want to feel rather than these concrete numbers and yeah, how, how's your life going to feel? Are you going to feel light and happy and peaceful on a day to day basis? Or is, is it going to come at the cost? Of your peace to have this kind of growth.

Ané: 3:09

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny that you mention that because this year's the year that a lot of my friends turn 30. And I think that does bring up a lot of. A lot of, yeah, just thinking and feeling and emotions and, and it's, you're right. I think we just need to come back to being compassionate and loving and be like, okay, but. Do I feel good in who I am right now? Like, yeah, okay, I don't have X, Y, and Z in my life, but do I feel, am I, am I really at peace and content with the people who I'm around and does my life feel good? So that's a really good point. I think we always have to come back to, yeah, how does it feel? And this also applies for like business. And I think, especially if you want to have a business. is for the long haul, you know, always kind of want to have be on boss and stuff. Let's try and adjust those ways right now to see it as a sustainable business, right? And and lifestyle because I know there's parts with so for instance for me it's like I tend to be very like. Like what's a hot word? It's like, I build a lot of energy when I'm like, Oh, but I got to do this. And I got to do that. And I don't do that. And I've noticed that. And I'm like, and even you, like when we're like, okay, what are we going to do? We're recording. And you've said like, no rush, no rush. Cause you probably feel intuitively she's probably Russian and you're right. I am Russian. So the fact that you've said that twice, like no rush, and I know it's like, it's so beautiful because I'm like, yeah there literally is no rush, like it's all fine, it's all gonna get done, it's okay, so that's just a little, yeah. Yeah, yeah,

Stacey: 4:54

And I love that we work this way with the podcast where I don't want it to feel like it's this hard line of we must get it done. Like yeah, we get it done, but it's not gonna be. The end of my day, if, you know, we get, we push it an hour and we record later or yeah, I just, I want to feel into the flow of my business and I can be very adaptable in that way now where I can just quickly switch into doing something else and trying to not let things affect me and be like, Oh, I have to die now and now I don't know what to do because I had that slot planned. I can just quickly just do something else and then yeah, it's not going to. Be this slippery slope. I was thinking as you were saying, if you want to be in business for the long haul too. That's a slippery slope if you want to just, if you say to yourself, you know, I'm going to sign up to this course like 10k in 10 days and I'm going to, you know, make 100, 000 this year. Because that's a very common goal, the 100, 000 in a year. That's, that's totally fine to have. But you've got to really shift your mind into that, I want to be in this for the long term. it will go in the flash of an eye and then all of a sudden you'll get burnt out so fast that, and you'll be down in the dumps and that's, that's, that's that slippery slope of I'll just quickly get this done, I'll quickly do this and I'll, and I'll just rush and I'll stay up till past midnight to do this thing and just because I just want to quickly get all this stuff done and I want to get somewhere but it's not very sustainable

Ané: 6:31

no.

Stacey: 6:33

and yeah it does

Ané: 6:33

You're right, it's not sustainable and I love what you said about like, I want to feel the flow in my business. Like I want to feel the flow of that, of running my business every day. And that's a beautiful way to describe it, right? Because if you're on a flow, you're not Doing like this. It's a dance, you know okay everyone that's listening I was kind of doing like the crazy rollercoaster up and down with my hands We need to start like showing these videos honestly because we use our hands so much

Stacey: 7:05

cause you can't, yeah,

Ané: 7:07

But yeah, that's what I meant like this crazy up and down rollercoaster, but the flow is this beautiful dance, you know we sway and we We get, you know, whatever. It's this really nice dance. And I, I think that's so right. I think, and as you were speaking about like this, people that sign up to these like marketing, like taglines of a hundred K and, you know, a year or whatever, 10 K and 10 days. It's just, I feel like you're feeding that devil that is actually going to be the thing that's stopping you from having a sustainable, flowing business, right? Because you're like, yes, that's my desire, really, really, I'm attached to this, and then you do it, and then you may get there, but then you've also lost a lot of, gosh, time, you're probably burnt out, you probably lost, you know and I just think we've got to come back to our values and I guess the, the, the morals that we stand with, because yeah, it is a slippery slope. If you keep feeding that devil of let me do this, then we do that course and we did this and get that rather than like, can I actually stay in the faith and the trust in the business and know that actually what I'm doing is enough. And I just have to stop. I just have to believe that constantly, even if we're old, you know, thoughts come back in.

Stacey: 8:29

yeah, yeah, yeah, that slippery slope, I've definitely been down that slide. It's very easy to slide down of prioritizing one above all others. Like you say, are you, is it coming at the cost of your relationships with the family with, you know, even self care, definitely. I've been through those periods where I wouldn't even go to the gym because I'm like, I don't have time for that.

Ané: 8:52

so

Stacey: 8:54

really comes at a cost for that because you don't want your whole life just to be this one track focus. And it's not going to feel fun and light if you're pushing, pushing, pushing. So, okay, so let's talk about some of the things that we can do to make a business feel light and fun. What do you think? What can, what could, what could people do? That's maybe a little practical or shifts in mindset that people can do to make it feel fun and light.

Ané: 9:24

I have popped in in a monthly Calendar, like in a monthly goal, every month is like tracking, tracking my finances. Like within the business. Yeah. Just monitoring, like what worked, what didn't. And this is gonna take a couple, this might take an hour, may, I'm still testing this, but I'm like, this is not fun work. This is like. You know, admin stuff, so how can I make it like, okay, maybe I do go to a cafe and I order a coffee and I will do this for an hour, come home and I do the rest, like, how can I start I don't know. Make it feel, making this feel like maybe go sit in the sun and go do that. You know, maybe I burn a candle and I give myself some snacks and then I can just like, you know, put a timer on for an hour and just sit with it and, and work through it. So that's one thing that I'm gonna start incorporating. And now that I've said it, it's like, okay, now I'm going to, this is accountability now So maybe we'll we'll come back to it in a month and see if she did it, but. That's, that's something tangible that I'm going to start and I know this is nothing new. A lot of people talk about this but it is something that I've heard a lot of people talk and then not implement it. So it's now, 2024 is the year that I actually implement this, so.

Stacey: 10:48

Yes, it's, it's not new, but we do need the reminder. And also, I feel like sometimes we have these old beliefs in our head. Because I remember once I was at home and I was on my laptop on the couch. And I told my dad, because I was back at home and he said, and I said I was working. He's like, well it doesn't look like you're

Ané: 11:05

Mm.

Stacey: 11:06

And I'm like, but I am working. So sometimes we have these rules for ourselves. So look at what are the rules you have for yourself, like, I have to be at my desk, otherwise I'm not working. Or I have to be doing it a certain way, it has to look a certain way. Does it? Does it need to look like, like that? Could you be at the pub? You know, like you're saying, could I be at a cafe? Could I be in the park? And then there might be a little voice in your head saying, no, then I'm not really working. But you are! It's just that sometimes we have these old, outdated beliefs about what it should look like. Like, I should be working from nine to whatever. Do you like working late at night? Is that more fun for you? Is it nicer for you to work in a different way to the way that they've set up for factory workers from nine to

Ané: 11:54

Absolutely.

Stacey: 11:55

Is it nice for you to have two hours off

Ané: 11:56

Yeah. Yeah. And actually, as you were speaking about that, cause that's actually such a good point and it ties in with what I was thinking was like, I was listening to this other girl talking about like, we get so fixated on like changing habits and behaviors, but what about it is it just us stepping into a new identity and it's the same thing. It's like, Yeah. Okay, if you have this like vision of yourself as a business owner that has this really light flowing business What does she do every day? What what what's the habits that she has created for herself and like, you know, kind of Reverse engineer it so instead of trying to change those habits and then you end up going back to old ways because you still on an old identity Let's start embodying this new identity and see okay. Is it that I yeah have a couple hours Open and at lunchtime to go to the gym and do my grocery shopping, and then I come back to work and like, is that for you in a successful and light business? Because then, so it is, you know so I think that's also another practice that you can do is like really envisioning and, and journaling. Like who, what is this new I identity that you are trying to embody? And start acting like that and start just like making these tiny little tweaks and then the old behaviors and habits that you were probably doing kind of starts to dissipate anyways because you're, you've started to incorporate these other new habits, you know?

Stacey: 13:20

Yeah, yeah, that's one of my favorite things that you do actually where you, you say, Oh, how does she do it? So it's almost like you're removing yourself from the equation and looking at yourself from a third person perspective. And then you're looking at yourself in that way. And just the language shift that you do there, I think is genius because it's like, how would she do it? It's like, Oh, okay. If you were the sim in the game, how would you want that sim to be living their life? Think about it that way, like remove yourself from the equation. If somebody else was making those changes, I feel like often it's easier to do that. You know, if we're playing a game and we get the sim to do what we want it to do, but when it's us, we're just like so close to ourselves that sometimes we don't even notice those little things that are happening in our mind. What it is that we're telling ourselves why we have to do things a certain way and not allowing and I think sometimes it's just that permission slip that we need to give ourselves because if we have our own business, we give ourselves that permission because why you have your business in the first place if you don't want to have that kind of permission for yourself to be able to do it the way that you want to do to do it differently to working for someone else and having a job.

Ané: 14:38

Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Sims days. That's just like reminded me of so many memories of playing sims. I miss it so much. But yeah, absolutely. And I think as you're saying about all like changing these ways, definitely remind yourself to be compassionate and and knowing that it's going to feel uncomfortable doing new things like it. You're going to have moments, like even today, like now that I'm trying to be more slower in my day, and you know, just start to embody that, I'm going to have moments where I'm like, you're not doing enough, or you're being lazy, or why are you so slow, or whatever, and I just have to be like, no, but this is my new identity, I don't you know, this is how I want to be, and I think that's a really beautiful reminder for you to come back to, and I think meditation will really help with that, like if you get really, really stuck in you know, getting back into the old way is just meditate in the mornings or night about it because I think that will really create that openness within to start playing in this new realm and new identity essentially.

Stacey: 15:45

Yeah, yeah, I have an example. So for me, something that I've, a new little hobby that I've taken up is doing puzzles. So yesterday I was on the computer for a few hours and I was starting to get that kind of like stress headache, not stress headache, but screen time headache. And then I took a bit of time off just to go and do my puzzle. There, yeah, there's just this little part of me that's like, no, I need to keep going until this is done. Like, we have, I think that's common in like humans, we love to get things completed. And I think a lot of marketers can exploit that when they're trying to get you to sign up for things. Have you ever seen that thing, that window pop up and it's like, you are 50 percent completed in opting in. You'll probably see it now that

Ané: 16:32

my god.

Stacey: 16:33

it, but everybody does this because it's like capitalizing on the human psychology of. People want things to be completed, we want the box ticked, we want, yeah, so just know that that can potentially be happening inside yourself too, like I need to get this done now. Do you? Could you take an hour off? What's going to happen if you take half an hour off? The fear usually for me is like, oh, I'm not going to want to go back to work. There's this fear of, oh no, I'm not going to want to get it done later. So I just like, I just like grip on, like white knuckle through it. But I had to really start deconditioning myself. Like, it's okay. You can take an hour off, go do your puzzle, have some screen time break, and then

Ané: 17:16

Wow. Amazing. I mean, that's like, that's huge awareness. And like, it's funny because your body was literally screaming at you being like, I need a break, but your mind was like trying to overdrive it. Yeah. Like a hard drive.

Stacey: 17:32

yeah, yeah, like no, no break for you.

Ané: 17:35

And like, but your body was like, please, I just need some play. I just need to chill. And It's, that's why we, we always speak on this podcast about really building a relationship with your body because that is the, the vessel that is from, you know, trying to decondition you sometimes and just trying to have that more like, yeah, love and care for yourself. So that's like, it's huge. Did you end up going back to work or did you end up just like chilling afterwards and you were like, I'll get back to it tomorrow.

Stacey: 18:08

I did, but I took my laptop

Ané: 18:10

Yeah. Well, there you go.

Stacey: 18:11

with me because I, I had started developing a headache and so I got like a cold pack and I like laid in bed and then, cause I have a deadline on signing up to some stuff. So I was like laying back with the laptop and I was just doing it from there. And yeah, that felt lighter to me than having to be at my desk where.

Ané: 18:30

You,

Stacey: 18:32

on the couch and you sort of feel to yourself like you're not working. I don't know if anybody else has that, but it doesn't feel real. I don't know. There's like some weird psychological thing going on there, but you're still doing the work, but I don't know. It's like, Oh, I'm not really working. I'm on the couch. But you are. Yeah.

Ané: 18:54

has no legs to stand on because you still worked and it felt lighter and again that's what I meant about talking about like it's gonna feel uncomfortable when we try to shift new ways because like you said and I think you're right like I too At the start of business was always like, gotta be on my desk, gotta be like this, and that was so rigid, and I was just like, so inefficient, like, would you just do the stupidest shit that like, does not move the needle forward, and it's just burning myself out. And now you're right, like, same here, like, okay, I need to move, like, I'll go for a walk and then I'll take my laptop or whatever and I just, I, I'm doing efficient work in a short amount of time rather than trying to work harder and, and maybe prove myself or whatever the belief or the thought is. So I think that's a very generational thing. Like, if you're not at your desk, you're not working. It's like, no, it's, we're not, it's, we're not doing that anymore.

Stacey: 19:48

Yeah. Yes. Yes. It's like, I'm sitting upright. I'm on my desk. I am working. La la la la. But yeah, no, not true. And I think another good point that you just mentioned too, is that, are you doing the right things? So sometimes we feel at the end of the day, what did I do today? It's probably because you weren't doing the right things. You were working on the business. Or were you working in the business? So, sometimes we've spent hours and hours and hours and we're only working 90 percent in the business. And that's sometimes where we feel that discrepancy of I didn't really, I'm not moving anything forward, really. And that's usually where that comes from because you're only doing client work. And I know that we've spoken about this before. But that's where that can come from because you feel like I'm not Getting to a point where eventually I'm going to be able to make sales while I'm, while I've already set some stuff up. I only make money while I'm doing client work, which is really what I want to help people to get out of. Because I've been there for such a long time and it, yeah, it can really affect you feeling so depleted because you think to yourself, oh my god, I'm going to have to do this all over again just to earn the money

Ané: 21:01

yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And I think, so like a practical thing that you can do and some people may not like this and some people do like take it with a grain of salt. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you. No hard feelings. But I like to have negotiables in business. So like. Three things that I can do today that's going to move the needle a little bit forward a little bit. Just I'm I can If that's all I achieved and sometimes one of them is to take a break, like it is to go to the gym. Like I'm saying in business, but I also mean like to take care of myself as well. So, and, and seasonal, sometimes it is three things that are like very much. In the business, or on the business, or the three things that are like, more about my health and care and well being. So like, you know, really pivot as you need to, but if, if you did those three things, it's not a ten list of things, then you had a really successful day and it was great, you know? And I think that's, that's something that we can start to incorporate in this year, is yeah, not try to over complicate it, like just Keep it light, keep it, keep it simple, and see how much you can then invite fun and joy and creativity, actually.

Stacey: 22:17

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think we've spoken about the three things because I have the same. I have the three things. And I'd also throw in the mix the 80 20 rule, the Pareto principle. So in the 80 20 rule, Just try and at least, if you're at that point where you can't really spend a lot of time, just do 20 percent of work on your business. Because that's going to probably, eventually, drive 80 percent of your income. Even though 80 percent of your time is maybe being taken up by client work. Just every day, if you can try to do 20 percent on your business, like send your newsletter out. Try to create your lead magnet. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you need to have a session with either one of us and we will help you out. In that sense, because those are some of the things that you need to be doing to be able to move the needle forward and

Ané: 23:07

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Perfectly said. And I love that rule too. I've also heard people say about like, what's 1 percent or one thing you can do to feel 1 percent better or something like and it's it's the same sort of, you know, on the other end of the stick. It's just same same but different. It's just when you feel like you are at the verge that you just cannot do. Okay. Is there one thing that's going to just shift that energy where you're like, okay, today was a successful day. And some days are going to be really easy to do that. And some days are going to be really hard, but being compassionate back to yourself and yeah, and kindness. And if you're shifting an identity, shifting identity in your business, Yeah, it's going to take some time, but it is so worth it, especially if you want to do it in the long haul, so, yeah.

Stacey: 23:53

yeah. I think my 1 percent shift energy thing is just to go have a shower. That just helps me to cleanse like all the water. Just take that time out from your screens and. That's a good 1%. And then maybe there's like a, maybe let's invent a new system. There's like a 5 percent shift. Maybe there's a 10 percent shift. Maybe a 10 percent shift would be going for a walk. Maybe like having a cup of tea and a break is a 1 percent shift. So maybe there are percentages of shifts that you can make that help you to feel like your day is lighter

Ané: 24:30

hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Stacey: 24:32

And see what the rules are that you have around. What it is that you've been, the way that you've been doing it

Ané: 24:37

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I love that idea. Actually, I'm gonna let's maybe we'll maybe we'll be like a little test tester and we can sort of see what because this is it's kind of a bit subjective to write like my 1 percent might be a 10 percent for you or your 10 percent might be 1 percent for me or whatever. So it's just like it. Yeah, but that's the beauty of having your own business. You can you are the creator. You can do whatever you'd like with it. And I think, yeah, there's no cookie cutter way and you can have fun with it. And this is the thing, like, you know, when we hear, Oh, but like business is a game. Like at first I didn't like that, but I do sort of understand where they're coming from. Right. Like every time, if you kind of envision your business and your evolution as like just another level, another level, another level, then you can play with it. You can have fun with it. But if you're someone who doesn't have those. So if you feel like you don't have those foundations or you feel a little bit like all over the place, then I feel like seeing your business as a game, it, it, it just won't align. You just will feel a little like, cause I was there, I was like, what do you mean? Like, I'm just trying to like survive right now, like I don't want to be in a game. So be discerned about that. But then that's why the, the percentage can really come in and support you to be, yeah, calm about it.

Stacey: 25:57

yeah. And So my last note here will be about if it's going to be a game, it's going to be a game because I think the reason why you might be, you know, having that feeling is because a game is there to win. But if we're talking about a different type of game, games are really fun like The Sims, but they don't really have a specific goal. Everybody, you know, it's like an endless game. It can go any which way. So there's no end one goal for everybody has a different set of goals. What they want to get out of that game and it's so funny too with sims, it's so fun, but we're literally doing normal life shit, aren't we? We're like, we're like doing the dishes, we're buying furniture, we're going to work, but it's fun. Isn't

Ané: 26:44

The irony.

Stacey: 26:45

And then in our real life, we're like, nah, that's way more fun making

Ané: 26:48

Do it.

Stacey: 26:48

do it in the simulation. So,

Ané: 26:51

Like, the irony of

Stacey: 26:52

so yeah.

Ané: 26:54

It makes literally no sense because, like, you're essentially in control of your life, but you are in control of your life, like, you are the creator of your life, so you don't have to be in a Sims fucking game to do that. You can literally do it in your own life. You know?

Stacey: 27:13

are the creator. I like that. That's like a capital C.

Ané: 27:16

Ooh, yeah.

Stacey: 27:18

Yeah. You are the creator of your life.

Ané: 27:21

Yeah. Absolutely. There was one more thing I wanted to mention, but it left me, so maybe it's not meant to be heard, maybe it's not meant to be said.

Stacey: 27:31

Could be. Could be.

Ané: 27:34

yeah.

Stacey: 27:35

Okay. Well, let's wrap the episode up there. I feel like that was It's a beautiful exploration on making things lighter. To recap, we had, you know, doing little practical things, maybe shifting some of the rules around it, thinking about how, to maybe change those percentages of the, of what you're doing and figuring out what your percentages are for those little breaks and things.

Ané: 28:00

Yeah. Feel into it. Observe it. See if there's any pattern, patterns or behaviors that you do that you know doesn't serve you anymore and start to respond or try different identity to shift that rather than trying to shift the habit or the behavior or the response. Try and like be in that embodiment of that new identity. And see what, you know, you might be pleasantly surprised. You might. Start doing a whole new other hobby and that's beautiful and that's actually another thing we talked about like finding things that you can do to like ease your mind play yours is puzzles i've been listening to audiobooks but like It's like non, like fictional audio book, so it's like actually story, it's not self development, you know, and yeah, like just start, just start to like play with life. It is, it truly is a game, whether you're in a Sims game or whether you're at a, I don't know, Mario Kart game, doesn't matter. Just make your own game up and yeah, have compassion and kindness to yourself about it. So yeah, beautiful.

Stacey: 29:07

Beautifully said. Thanks for listening, everybody, and we'll see you on

Ané: 29:10

Yes. Thanks guys. See you. Bye.