Posts Tagged ‘Habit’

This is the second day that my kitten Butch has brought in a bird. I guess he thinks he is bringing me a present but you know what, I don’t need one! He is cute enough himself without any extras. I did wonder if he was telling me to clean the house in his own subtle way. By bringing in his feathered friends and then removing 90% of its feathers the hoover had to come out which meant that after sucking up the feathers the rest of the carpet got cleaned too. Subtle little minx.

I had thought of sending an email to Whiskas informing them that their kitten food can’t be up to scratch. If it was why would he need to go out hunting? Is it just that he’s a creature of habit and that’s what he does?

This then led me to wonder, am I a creature of habit? What do I do day in day out, not necessarily because it produces the right outcome just purely because that is what I do. Switch on the computer, login to the various social media sites I am linked with, check updates, move to emails, check and prioritise, go through my “To Do” list and get on with the day.

Now I wonder what would happen if I decided to change my routine? Turn everything about and do it in a different order. How long would it take for that to become a routine? Would it throw me off course completely or would I enjoy the change?

Having wondered that I decided to utilise what we take for granted these days and did a search on Google only to find this article

So it seems that change is good for us, it gets us out of a routine and could even spark creative thoughts which in the end will enhance our productivity.

Are you a creature of habit? Do you have a set routine you follow religiously every day? Well, today is Friday, the working week is nearly over, perhaps I will spend my afternoon doing something completely different and muse on how I will begin next week.

P.S.  I hope Butch isn’t thinking of introducing Pigeon into his diet!

I recently went back home to Kenya for a two week holiday, really excited to be returning to my original home after twelve years. It was a chance to be reunited with my son and also the perfect opportunity to take some time to relax in the sun.  Take a look at this photo – this is the view that I woke up to every morning – ah bliss! It has been twenty six years since I left Mombasa and the coast is still as beautiful as I remembered it – with sunrises and sunsets that are out of this world. 

 The run up to going away on holiday, though, was predictably hectic as anyone running a small business will appreciate. I needed to make sure that all my clients were looked after whilst I was away and thanks to my excellent secretary I knew my “typing clients” would be in safe hands. 

Included in my packing was my trusty Blackberry, and although I had been given strict instructions from Paul (my husband), that it had to be kept out of sight most of the day, I was still able to check e-mails from time to time. I was also able to flag those that needed action on my return and skip through others to be viewed at a later date.

It was while I was skipping through my e-mails that I started to ponder – ‘Why is it that we find it so difficult to “turn off”?’  Why is it, when we work so hard to have a holiday or break from work that we still insist on checking our e-mails?  Has it become second nature, a habit, an addiction even? 

If you have read “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferris you will understand exactly where I am coming from.  It was whilst I was relaxing and gazing out to sea that I began to think about work and how everything was going. I thought about how I should develop my business so that I could look after my existing clients as well as seek new clients while simultaneously ensuring that I continue to strive for the perfect work/life balance.  Now don’t get me wrong – this doesn’t mean that I’m planning to laze on the beach each and every day (what a thought!) but it does mean I considered ways that Paul and I could travel more; something we both enjoy.

This led me on to thinking about my business in broader terms and how it has grown over the past two and a half years – and where I would like it to go in the future.  Joanna Martin described in her recent newsletter that “For some businesses, the changing of the seasons may mean you need to re-evaluate your product or service”.   Hmm…surely I was in the perfect place to be able to do this whilst relaxing on holiday? 

So I took some time to re-evaluate the services I provide already and asked myself did all of them work?  What services could I remove?  Maybe I should think about the ones that were taking up a lot of my time for little income? And what services could I introduce that could be beneficial to both my clients and myself? Quite quickly I was able to see what areas needed pruning or adjusting – and once I had made those decisions my mind was free to contemplate new areas.  By dusting off the elements that were clouding my judgement I was then able to see a way forward – so watch out for some new services that will be coming up! 

So my point is this: have you taken any time recently to reflect on your business? If not, perhaps you too need to take some time out. It doesn’t matter whether it is a two week holiday somewhere exotic or just a long weekend. The important thing is to step away from your business long enough to take an independent view from a new perspective.  My advice is to do this before more time slips through your fingers, because time taken to reflect on where you have come from, and where you are going, is never time wasted.

And you never know, you might well be very surprised at what you see – and what you can learn.