You want me to learn how to relax? It’s the beginning of a new year!
Being a dreamer, for many, is as common as breathing.
Think about yours. You know the one. Making the amount of money you want, taking a vacation to your favorite spot while cash pours into our bank accounts because we run an auto-pilot home business on the Internet.
We’ve all realized trying to learn how to relax isn’t as rosy a dream as we thought.
Reality can be a pain in the ‘you know where’… The amount of work it takes for success is no surprise to most online marketers. This is where the tough choice to keep going or quit has to be made. Those of us who aren’t quitters, put our noses to the grind and push forward with everything we’ve got. But somewhere in the middle of it all, we forget to learn how to relax.
I phrase it this way (“learn how to relax”) because it’s something that doesn’t usually come naturally, so it does have to be learned.
Every one needs to take it easy and learn how to relax from time to time.
You may never get tired of doing what you do. Or at least, some parts of it. What many refer to as a “necessary evil” is just that. It’s necessary and can’t be ignored. Meaning… it’s gotta be done.
I’m fortunate to have found something I love to do. It’s also no accident. It happened intentionally. But even if most of my ‘working day’ is filled with things I enjoy doing, it’s still necessary to take some time off to learn how to relax… to tune out… turn off… shut down. And do something else.
As we enter into a new year, we usually look back and assess our progress over the last 12 months. I’m sure you do the same. It’s only natural. As we look over our accomplishments from last year, we get a good glimpse of our past performance and how we can improve on it this go round.
This year, a question I’ve added to my checklist is:
Did I take enough time to learn how to relax?
And my answer was a loud “yes” because for me… it didn’t come naturally. It was almost forced.
We’ve had it drilled in our minds that hard work comes with no play. If you want to get it done, you’ve got to burn the midnight oil… 365 and 24/7. So you see… I literally had to re-teach myself and ‘learn’ how to relax.
Why learning how to relax is important
Running an online business, large or small, can be a roller-coaster ride.
We start to experience exhilarating highs, and lows that can almost break our hearts. And as we try juggling everything around, we find ourselves trying to fit everything into a day that seems to get shorter as time goes on. We find ourselves constantly adapting to all the changes that seem to be inevitable, then stress pounces.
As stress accumulates, we start to feel the effects, and they aren’t good. Enthusiasm takes a break. We experience frequent tiredness. And optimism… what’s that? Now we feel that the outlook for future success is a little bleak. And staying healthy can even become a challenge if we aren’t careful.
Deciding to take time to learn how to relax is now more important than ever. Here’s why.
* When you learn how to relax, you also learn how to de-stress: Functioning under a constant burden of stress is like trying to fly an airplane with the wheels unlocked and the flaps down. You have more ‘drag’ and less energy which creates greater resistance.
* When you learn how to relax, it helps you to Get Creative: Your best ideas often pop-up when you’re most relaxed and in a free thinking mode. Working under conditions that are adverse usually isn’t what helps you meet deadlines with your best work.
* Once you learn how to relax you’ll find it easier to evaluate and assess: The best way to review your performance is to do it when you’re in a relaxed state. Do you need to adjust your activities? Is some part out of balance? Are you doing what needs to be done? Do you need to delegate? You can find these answers a lot easier when you’re relaxed.
* A very good way to contribute to learning how to relax is learning how to celebrate: When you take the time to break away and celebrate in your accomplishments, you somehow get a drive to go further. If you can’t do this daily, shoot for at least once a week. And if you don’t have anything major to celebrate, pick something minor! Everything doesn’t have to be “over-the-top”!!!
* Get Rejuvenated: A short ‘vacation’ from the hustle and bustle of your typical work-day can help ignite the passion and excitement that had when you started in the early days. You get back to the days when running your business wasn’t so much a chore, but was more of a joyous adventure. Taking the time to learn how to relax — taking needed breaks — can help you capture that spirit again.
How Can You Really Learn How to Relax While Running an Online Business?
First… You are convinced that you do need to learn how to relax… right? Now that you’re convinced, you might be reasonably concerned about how to squeeze in a break. Because really… if you don’t do the work, it won’t get done… right?
Well, you’re right to a degree. The really nice part about being a blogging internet marketer is that you don’t have to do it all yourself. That’s where automation and outsourcing comes in in a big way. As your business becomes more successful, you’ll grow to love outsourcing. What was once a chore becomes fun again.
Just like no two people are alike, no two business are exactly alike and your needs may not be “cookie-cutter”. Look very closely at your common tasks. You’ll probably discover that much of it can be automated — and there are probably things that even a teenager could help you with.
Take your email inbox… Your email rules can be set up to handle specific messages the same way all the time. Here’s an example: A customer can send an email that could be re-routed to your frequently asked questions. If the answer isn’t there, include a link that will then come to you. You’ve just saved yourself time by not having to have tell them to check the FAQ for their solution.
Another example: Having a help-desk respond based on templates you’ve created with the most common concerns is another way to get help. So even without your time being used reading email, your customers are still getting the help they need.
I’m sure if you look closely, you’d find quite a few tasks that could be handled in a similar manner. Definitely, this takes some planning and action. Analyze your systems and document and how you handle certain issues. See which ones could be handled by someone else or through automation.
Just so you know… if you continue at it, before long your internet business will get to a point where getting help is not an option if you intend to grow.
So are you ready to find the time to start living a little? Are you ready to start learning how to relax while still getting everything done? Find those areas within your business than can be done through automation without compromising your efficiency then take the steps necessary to put them into play… now relax.
If you enjoyed this post on learning how to relax, please share, retweet, and subscribe to my RSS feed for more great tips!
 Rosalind is the author of this blog and the founder of the 10K Inner Circle. She's an expert trainer on blogging and internet marketing, and a sought after speaker among her business peers. She also builds a successful network marketing business. If you enjoyed reading this post, be sure to get more tips here. |
Comments