Today we’re talking about your daily routine and how it can either help or hurt your side hustle.
If you’re anything like me, at some point you started to realize that the path that’s sold to us as the path to happiness is a myth.
Going to college, getting a job, making money for someone else, and having finite earning potential – all of that’s great if what you are doing excites you.
But what if it doesn’t? And why does someone else get to make the rules for me? And even though I live within my means, why do I have to settle for a fixed amount of annual income (that I allocate on a spreadsheet broken down by month to make sure we have enough)?
It clearly didn’t make me happy.
I found myself not sleeping well. I would eat and drink to soothe my emotions, and then I put pressure on myself to exercise and eat better to fix the problem of eating and drinking.
A diet and workout program is treating the symptom of the problem, not the problem itself…
And, oh, the guilt. The guilt I felt for feeling this way. I didn’t have a bad life. I have a loving husband, amazing friends, and a great family.
But I was spending more than a third of my day – a third of my life – doing something that did not fuel my soul one bit. It was exhausting. Refuel by eating and drinking, right?
Can you relate?
So I had this vision for my life where I choose what I can wear every day. I choose where I go. I have a large window of time to exercise and prepare healthy meals, and I can run errands in the middle of the day. I can be there for my family.
But most of all, I was helping people accomplish something that’s difficult for them but easy for me and paying it forward.
That recharged me and energized me. I could feel the change in energy immediately after I launched my business teaching entrepreneurs how to build their own websites and overcome the tech hurdles that kept them stuck.
But I felt stuck because I didn’t know how do I would find the time to build my business without quitting my day job.
I felt like I should have had more time. I don’t have kids, so there’s a big chunk of time I should have free compared to many of my friends and family members. So where did it all go?
A couple of months into my business, I decided to pay attention to where my time was going to it and write it down.
1) Sleeping. I’ve been telling myself I’m not a morning person for years. I never would set an alarm. I’d go to bed at 10PM and wake up at 7:30AM or when I heard the garage door open when my husband left for work.
2) Getting prettified. Once I finally woke up, I’d groggily drag myself to the shower. Then I’d make breakfast, eat while I watch embarrassing reality TV that I’ve hoarded on my TiVo, put my makeup on and dry my hair, get dressed, run up and down the stairs 20 times forgetting stuff… and at some point leave for work all dressed up to sit in my office and see no one all day.
3) Commuting. I live 8 miles from my office, but it somehow takes me 30 minutes in rush-hour traffic.
4) Working my day job. 8 hours after I arrive, I can leave.
5) Commuting. Another 30 minutes to drive 8 miles home.
6) Working out. Hahaha! I always plan to, anyway…. But then I get home, and I don’t have the mental energy to make myself do it. The three times a week I do it, I feel awesome and I’m proud of myself, and I want more of it.
7) Making dinner. I cook at home about 4 nights a week… which means 3 nights we are
7.5) Going out. My husband and I go out a couple times a week and eat healthily and have zero beer (LOL).
8) Watching TV shows I’m not embarrassed to tell people about. While I’m on my laptop working on WP*BFF the whole time, sometimes piping in to ask “What just happened?”
I used to think it was my day job getting in the way of being able to dedicate more time to WP*BFF. But looking at that schedule on paper, I saw a TON of time that I was totally wasting.
I don’t need to work 15 hours on the weekend. I don’t need to stay up til 1AM, exhausted, late to work, and burning through vacation time to get WP*BFF where I want it to be.
I created a situation where I NEVER had downtime and it made me feel like I couldn’t offer BFFs one-on-one coaching because when would I ever fit that in?
One of my fave podcasters Chalene Johnson told me (on a podcast, but I feel like she’s talking just to me) that I need to get up early and work out first thing because it gives you energy and makes you more productive. That seems daunting, so I told Chalene (in my head) that I would commit to getting up early one day, and we’ll see about the workout.
So one day, I set an alarm on my phone for 5:30AM. I woke up, showered, got ready without the Real Housewives fighting in the background and was at work before I would normally be waking up.
And guess what? I feel just as groggy waking up at 5:30 as I do at 7:30, so what’s the difference? No traffic on the way to work or home either.
Then I worked out and had dinner ready before my husband even got home from work. He was shocked (and I told him not to get used to it LOL). Then I still had 4 hours to work on WP*BFF. FOUR WHOLE UNINTERRUPTED HOURS that I extracted from my formerly “busy” day. Wow. And I can do that 3 nights a week and a few hours on the weekend.
5:30AM feels like nothing now. Working out in the morning is like breathing. I just do it without thinking.
Then I started experimenting with tiny tweaks to my routine… Brushing my teeth first instead of last, getting dressed before makeup. I know this may sound silly, but I feel like I’ve gotten so set in my ways that I failed to see that it could be done differently.
Maybe these small tweaks will open up my mind a little more, allow me to make room for new, better habits even though it’s hard for me to remember everything because it’s no longer a mindless routine.
But as a professional dieter, I know how much it does not work for me to make a bunch of huge changes all at once.
So I’m tackling my life the same way I’m tackling business – with small, consistent action taken every day. And that’s how you build a sustainable side hustle.
Today’s pep talk is brought to you by Bluehost. Go to www.shannonmattern.com/bluehost and get 36 months of web hosting for just $2.95 a month. That’s less than one trip to Starbucks a month – and if you’re anything like me, you’re at Starbucks more than that!
Then you can sign up for my Free 5 Day Website Challenge at www.shannonmattern.com/5day and I’ll show you step by step how to get started building your new website for your side hustle.
