I was tired yesterday. My sleep has been more broken than usual and I’d had a rough night. But I had a commitment to lead a workshop. I needed to get my supplies organized, pack up the car, find a way to look okay, and go. But staring in the mirror, I realized the whites of my eyes couldn’t be called white because red was clearly the primary color.
I looked at a little dish on my bathroom counter that I made with my moms’ group last month. It’s filled with ten tokens which represent how much energy I have to spend throughout the day. I love my little dish. I wrote the phrase “How will you spend the day?” around the outside and decorated it with yellow flowers and blue polka dots. Each morning I think about my day: planning where I’ll spend my energy and how I can make sure to include energy-building things – like good food, exercise, time with family and friends – so I don’t deplete my energetic account.
Lately, because of my disrupted sleep, I’ve been starting my day with far fewer than ten coins.
Yesterday morning, I dumped all ten tokens onto the counter.
My energetic account was severely overdrawn.
But I got ready for my presentation. I put on a pretty sweater and nice pants and my most comfortable boots. I fixed my hair and put on makeup. I loaded up the car with my flip chart and easel, craft supplies, and paperback copies of my book. I kissed the boys goodbye and got a hug from my husband, wondering the whole time how I was going to do this workshop on three hours sleep.
I was committed. People were counting on me. But I was so tired.
I drove 20 minutes in the rain to the host’s home, took a deep breath before pressing the doorbell, and smiled.
I smiled for the next three and a half hours.
I chatted with the host while we set up. I introduced myself to the women who came early. I led an engaging, interactive workshop about expectations. The women decorated canvas bags with fabric paint and markers, making reminders that they can choose what expectations they carry around with them.
Toward the end of my workshop, I told my story about my empty energetic dish that morning. I also shared a surprising truth: Spending time with them filled my dish.
Since my workshop last month where I made the dish, I've been more aware of where my energy is going. One of the ways that I’ve managed my energy is by unsubscribing to lists. I realized there’s a cost to the daily bombardment of emails from “experts,” all telling me what I should be doing to build my business.
One subscription I haven’t deleted, however, is from Ash from The Middle Finger Project. In her email last week, Ash talked about ditching the traditional elevator pitch, you know, the 30-second self-promotion speech that basically says “I do this thing for this kind of people to help them solve this problem.” It's usually a stilted, full of jargon sentence that only makes everyone uncomfortable.
Ash's recommendation for when asked what you do is start every answer with the statement “My job is so cool.”
During my workshop yesterday, I remembered my job is so cool. I get to create workshops that interesting women come to and then we sit and talk and eat and play. I get to combine one passion (life coaching) with another (crafting). I get to help people learn new things in a way that feels like fun.
And that fills me up.
Hugs,
Kathleen
I have two more awesome workshops for moms scheduled in March – one in San Mateo on Wednesday, March 16th and another online on Thursday, March 17th. For more info and to register, visit thewellcraftedmom.com/life-craft-cafe.
I looked at a little dish on my bathroom counter that I made with my moms’ group last month. It’s filled with ten tokens which represent how much energy I have to spend throughout the day. I love my little dish. I wrote the phrase “How will you spend the day?” around the outside and decorated it with yellow flowers and blue polka dots. Each morning I think about my day: planning where I’ll spend my energy and how I can make sure to include energy-building things – like good food, exercise, time with family and friends – so I don’t deplete my energetic account.
Lately, because of my disrupted sleep, I’ve been starting my day with far fewer than ten coins.
Yesterday morning, I dumped all ten tokens onto the counter.
My energetic account was severely overdrawn.
But I got ready for my presentation. I put on a pretty sweater and nice pants and my most comfortable boots. I fixed my hair and put on makeup. I loaded up the car with my flip chart and easel, craft supplies, and paperback copies of my book. I kissed the boys goodbye and got a hug from my husband, wondering the whole time how I was going to do this workshop on three hours sleep.
I was committed. People were counting on me. But I was so tired.
I drove 20 minutes in the rain to the host’s home, took a deep breath before pressing the doorbell, and smiled.
I smiled for the next three and a half hours.
I chatted with the host while we set up. I introduced myself to the women who came early. I led an engaging, interactive workshop about expectations. The women decorated canvas bags with fabric paint and markers, making reminders that they can choose what expectations they carry around with them.
Toward the end of my workshop, I told my story about my empty energetic dish that morning. I also shared a surprising truth: Spending time with them filled my dish.
Since my workshop last month where I made the dish, I've been more aware of where my energy is going. One of the ways that I’ve managed my energy is by unsubscribing to lists. I realized there’s a cost to the daily bombardment of emails from “experts,” all telling me what I should be doing to build my business.
One subscription I haven’t deleted, however, is from Ash from The Middle Finger Project. In her email last week, Ash talked about ditching the traditional elevator pitch, you know, the 30-second self-promotion speech that basically says “I do this thing for this kind of people to help them solve this problem.” It's usually a stilted, full of jargon sentence that only makes everyone uncomfortable.
Ash's recommendation for when asked what you do is start every answer with the statement “My job is so cool.”
During my workshop yesterday, I remembered my job is so cool. I get to create workshops that interesting women come to and then we sit and talk and eat and play. I get to combine one passion (life coaching) with another (crafting). I get to help people learn new things in a way that feels like fun.
And that fills me up.
Hugs,
Kathleen
I have two more awesome workshops for moms scheduled in March – one in San Mateo on Wednesday, March 16th and another online on Thursday, March 17th. For more info and to register, visit thewellcraftedmom.com/life-craft-cafe.
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