Transitions ARE the Work: Building in more runways and landings

Speaker A: Foreign. To a very special and what I hope is very speedy for you, uh, bonus episode of Small Business Casual. Uh, today I want to talk about how transitions are actually part of the work. Um, as some of you and, and others of you may not know this, but, um, I got a new dog. His name is Finch or Finchy or Finchester or Gold Finchers or Finchistic or Finch and Stein, whatever you want, but I call him Finch. Uh, he is a ball of energy. He is a goofball. He's cuddly, he's so sweet. And it has been a huge change and transition point in our lives. Um, in the first week alone, this guy taught me, like, so much about being a human, it is not even funny. And not just about being a human, but being a better human being. Being calmer, uh, finding more inner peace, more confidence, um, finding my way back to that state more easily, more consistently, and really having to do that in the moment and not like, you know, going. Can't always carve out time and regroup before, um, handling a situation. So while I could do a whole episode titled, like, business and life lessons for my dog, which not saying I'm not gonna do that, um, I'm also cognizant that, like, not everybody is, like, obsessed with dog lover. So I'm going to skip that episode for today. Um, and I'm going to give them, I'm going to give you kind of like bite sized little treats. What I'm learning as, uh, here and there as the revelations strike. So they may just pop up as little bonus episodes here and there, or they may turn into full fledged things. We'll see. Um, so let's get into the quick story first and then we'll get into the takeaway and then we'll get into the application and then we'll be back off chasing squirrels or whatever else you were doing before you popped in are earbuds. Uh, or just put it on. Not, uh, earbuds. Anyway, before I popped into your ear holes. How's that? Okay, so let's go back to the day I freaked out the first weekend that, uh, pinch was here. He was like this chill, relaxed, calm, super snuggly. Like, just like, oh, love everything. Everything's so wonderful. It was a dream on walks. Okay. He, he pulled, um, and he definitely had somewhere to be for sure. But he was pretty lockstep with me. Like, he was like, all right, I'm not really sure what's going on here. So he was like, very much like, with the person who was Walking him now, we have this super cool, like, long. We live on a very quiet road, and you hardly ever see a car. Uh, and when I do, I. I, you know, make sure to reel him up close to me, and we stop and we sit and we take a minute. Um, but we have this really long lead. It's actually like 20ft long, and it allows him to do, like, a little bit exploring. Um, but then when I need to, I can pull it back in by my side. And we're both quite adept at this. Like, I have gotten to be, like, the guru of this dog leash. Um, however, it was working fine for, like, the first week. It was lovely. But as he started to come out of his little shell and get really, really comfortable with us, I noticed he was super. He was getting more comfortable doing what he wanted and, like, letting me know what he wanted to do. And, uh, as he was doing that, what he wants on walks is. I mean, he does want to sniff. And we. We let him sniff and search things out and, like, investigate. That's all good. But he also wants squirrels and birds and turkeys and basically anything else that can flit around faster than I can, which is to say pretty much everything is far more interesting than the human on the other side of the leash. So on one particular walk, he was getting a little agitated because I do let him sniff a ton of things, and I let him, like, you know, indulge this little curiosity. Um, and once in a while, I'll let him, like, get interested in an animal and. But I don't want to, like, encourage that, right? So anyway, one day, uh, I had to draw the line because he decided he was going to be chasing these turkeys and in the process, ripping off my arm. And these things are not, like, these are not large biceps, okay? They don't do much to stop he. Tour de force going after some turkeys. So he almost. And I. I kid you not, like, he almost yanked my arm out of the socket in an effort to have an early Thanksgiving dinner. And he did not appreciate when I. Emily, the human was trying to stop him from this. So the rest of the walk, I could tell he was like, he. He was continually getting, like, amped up and then agitated and then amped up and then agitated, like, because I wouldn't let him get what he wanted. So when we got back home, he seemed to kind of, like, struggle to settle down and, like, shake it off and calm down. And I was like, oh, let's just do the cuddly thing, right? Like, I Thought like, okay, we're home, let's snuggle and cuddle. It's great before we go into crate for crate for nap time. And he had no interest in any of that. He was so, so supercharged. So I had to get ready for my work day and I was like, what do I do? So I had to put him in the crate. Eventually, um, he did need to settle down and take a nap. So I put him in his crate and eventually he did settle down. But I heard something different that day. I was like, he's having a really hard time settling down, like a lot longer than usual. And if you're like a dog trainer or something and you know all of this stuff already, please do not judge me. I am learning, I am making mistakes. We are learning together. And this is a very enjoyable and also really, really hard a journey. So I, uh, mean, send me any tips you have, but please also do not judge me. So fast forward to the next day and that, that kind of like, same sort of cycle happened again. And I was so confused. I'm like, okay, does this dog, like suddenly hate me? Like, is he turning on me? Is he mad because I just didn't give him like, the taste of the turkeys, right? And what is going to happen from here? Like, does this continue to escalate? Basically. So I turned at the Internet, ye old Google, and I found this great article on exactly, exactly what I was going through and exactly what I was looking for. And it was talking about giving your dog transition time. So kind of like options you might do are like, either using there's like this little tug stick that you can kind of like play with them with, and they, they sort of get like a little bit of the crazies out. Um, zoomies would be good. He doesn't, he's not into the zoomies. But, um, so I talk. It talked about giving your dog like transition times. So in our instance it would be instead of just coming right inside, we kind of take like a snow, a simple slow sniff around the yard. You know, kind of like sniffing to your heart's content, getting a little excited, but not like, but kind of calming down. So we're discharging some of that adrenaline that they feel when they want to chase things, but they can't. You might also use like a stimulating brain game. There are all kinds of ideas that would help them to kind of cool off after this intensity, move into like a sort of a training period and then keep on winding down. So the next day, the very next day, Actually, I don't even think I waited till the next day, the very next walk. I decided, okay, when we come back, I'm going to transition him in. In steps and in phases and do it a lot more calmly because I realized he needs transition periods for everything. I can't just, like, prod him out of a dead sleep and be like, okay, let's go. Walk time. Be time. Fetch time. This, that, uh, the other thing, right? We have to kind of ease into things more slowly. And, yes, it takes more time. It takes a lot more time. M. And in fairness, uh, he is a rescue. I mean, we all kind of are. You know, we all are kind of like we've spent our whole lives sort of transitioning, being jolted out of realities. This poor dog has two. And for him, it's been very, very quickly, like, overnight. He went from loud, from longing to be like. Or just, you know, in a. In a kennel situation, um, in a shelter, to lounging and being loved. He went from a shelter to a home. He was, like, moving all the time his whole entire life. And then all of a sudden, it's, like, forever settled and safe. I mean, that's a little bit shocking. So when I think about the fact that, you know, that's kind of how my life was, and it has taken me 13 years to settle into the reality of the fact that I can have a stable life and that my relationship has, uh, been stable for 10 years and to settle in, or actually 13 years, and my house has been stable for 10 years. And even then, sometimes I can still feel like I'm being like, oh, my God, I wasn't expecting this, right? So how can I expect that from this poor little pup who. This is, like, literally his first week with us? So I, as. I kind of had this realization. I was like, all right, how can I apply this as a human being to my life, but also in. In my business? And in fact, that whole first week I had him, thankfully, I had kind of, like, earmarked it as a transition week. Like, I was like, okay, this is going to be a weird week. Um, we're getting used to things. And so I. I was starting a project, but when I'm starting a project, it's like the. It's like, actually one of the slower points of the project. When I'm starting and finishing are the slower points of a project. So it wasn't like a high intensity, like, do all the things, think week. So I had, like, a kind of nice transition week. And then I started thinking about like, well, why am I not just putting those transition weeks into my normal life? Like, why do I do project, project, project, project, project, all overlapping? Why am I still trying to expect, like, pandemic Emily who did. She could do. That girl could do 10 calls in one day, back to back with just a, ah, like a sip of water and a pee break in between. And I booked my projects that way too. The transitions for so many of us, that is the work. It's not like the throat clearing before you get started. For so many of us, we, we might feel like these transitions are kind of like the dead time, right? Like the, oh my God, can we just get to the good part, right? The actual work? Can we get to the actual reward? Can we get to the joy on the other side? Can we get to the relaxing destination at the end of the day? But I do believe that really setting it up with a, um, mindful, intentional transition can be where so much really great foundation and groundwork is laid. This is actually the good part. Like, this is the part that makes the rest of it all so, so, so much better. So I kind of asked myself, like, what would it look like for me to build more transition times in my life rather than expecting myself to just kind of like, hop to this, hop to that, hop to this, hop to that, all these things all the time. So I decided to start and I kind of made like a week of it, um, where I just was like, okay, Instead of just like jumping from task to task to task, I'm taking more breaks in between. Um, I'm kind of starting things, getting them set up for the next day, and then coming back to them. So I also put together a few ideas for both of us and how we could do this in our everyday and also, and sometimes in entire weeks or entire seasons. Like, personally right now, I'm in a very transitional season. This whole entire season for me, like, realistically, for the next, probably through the end of the year, the next 16 weeks, um, is all kind of a, um, building and transition time for me. I'm spending four weeks right now, like, kind of building up my body, building up my strength, and building up my health before I kind of get into like, a little bit of an intense protocol into what's been like, causing me so many problems. So I was also thinking about the month of September as a whole, and it really is kind of like a transition month. So you kind of start the month in, in summer, right? And then you end it in fall, and then there's back to school and back to routine. And for so many of us, that can feel like a real jolt, Like a real, like, oh my God, it's fall, or oh my God, it's back to school, or oh my God, I'm back in routine. But what if we just took it like a little bit slower and we kind of layered in things to make that transition time a little bit smoother for us? So entire seasons of our lives can be transitions. Um, a month can be a transition, A week could be a transition. You know, you could have just like little, uh, bookmarks of transitions. Right. But I do think that as you get better at these and being really intentional about them, it can make it a lot easier when you have one foot on one side of the line and one foot on the other side of the line and you're just allowing yourself to make your way fully into the next phase by taking a little bit more slowly, easing yourself in, taking it comfortably. Simple baby steps instead of just making that plunge into the next chapter. Like, we don't need to be cold plunging in our businesses. So I thought of some small things, like I said, that we can do, um, regularly to just kind of help make our day and our week more smooth and more easy to navigate. Uh, because we have a lot of things on our plates, right. And so this can just kind of help, I think, to alleviate some of the pressure. So the first one is, um, a pre project setup. Now when I do a project, I have a folder for every single client. And so when I do a project, there are phases to my projects. So when I'm kicking off with somebody, some of it is them, some, some of it is us meeting together. And then there's me where I come in with the setup. And that setup involves research. It involves, um, setting up their actual website and their pages. It involves like, kind of like any notes I need to put for myself, all these like little things I need to remember. So that for me is the pre project setup. And when I do that the day before, like if I say, okay, Tuesday, I time blocked two hours to work on their stuff, and Monday I actually just spend 20 minutes setting up their folder and setting myself up for the next day, it makes that two hours so much more effective. I'm not spending most of that time researching or most of the time setting up the thing. The other one I love, and I do this every day is an end of day shutdown routine. For me, this looks like deleting files off my desktop or off my, um, downloads folder, closing tabs emptying my inbox. I love an end day, uh, end of day shutdown routine. Something that just, like, says, okay, now I'm moving into cooking for my family. Now I'm moving into outdoor time. You know, whatever. The thing is, the other one I love is setting yourself up with a Runway before, like, a work block. So I usually try to get into our work blocks. And what I love to do is set up my space. So I'll get a cup of tea like I have here. I'll, uh, maybe put on a nice playlist. I'll close out any distractions, might light a candle. Just things to help signal my brain that I am focusing. I am entering the cave now, and I am focusing. And it also helps my body to come down because, like, when I just go from, like, walk to work, you know, that is really, really hard. So this is kind of just like a l. Like a. Like, um, a Runway. Um, and the other is like a landing after a work block. So instead of just like, bumping out of a project and going on to the next thing, I take a little break. I might take a short walk. I might get a snack. I might have a cup of water. I might, you know, have a celebration moment. So I'm not just kind of like, screeching and scratch, scratch, scratch, scratching and scrambling into the next thing. Frazzled, dazzled, doozled. Um, the other one I love is a. And I'm trying to get better at this, but is in putting a little bit of a buffer zone between calls. We are not in 2020 anymore, Toto. Okay? So we need a little bit of a buffer zone between calls. I'm not kidding you when I said I used to do 10 in a day back to back, and now I am so, so much better about that. And even I don't. I'm now even getting better at putting them at different times in my day than I did before because I'm kind of, like, working on a, um, different sort of schedule. So, um, the other thing I love is having a Friday list for Monday success. So every. At the end of every week, or at least by Sunday, at the very least by Sunday, I set myself up for the week ahead by writing down everything I need to do the next week and actually putting it into spots on my calendar. And it helps me so, so much. It's kind of like a little handoff for myself. So. So I'm like, look, you know, you maybe didn't get everything done that you wanted to last week, but here's the handoff. So you know what you stopped, where you stopped and what's next? Um, the other one, um, I'm gonna forget the term but there's this term of like a ritualistic shower and I love it like at night. Um, but I think you can do it anytime, anytime that you take like a really nice, that like ah, like just me time shower. That's the one that you would do this in. But you really just like take your time and you like smell your shampoo and you like really enjoy the way that the water is hitting your head. You know, like you really, really take your time. There is a very specific term for this. Um, but I love a ritualistic shower and sometimes I will use that. Like after a big, big project is done I will like just take, I'll like save my shower for. Then I'm like oh my God, this is the best shower ever. Because that is like done right. Or if I want to start a project, I might take one then to kind get the creative stuff going. So um, a shower is like super helpful for this. Uh, the other thing I am starting to work on a lot more is just putting some breathing room between my client projects, like my actual projects. So a lot of times my starts and my deadlines would like kind of just blur into one another. Now I'm giving myself time because actually what's become very apparent to me is that uh, I need to cleanse myself not, not like in uh a like it was a toxic way but just like cleanse the creativ and make ready for the next thing. Because I don't want any clients getting like residuals from the last project I just left off or like have any voice from my last client kind of like rolling into the next client. Like I want it to all be in their voice. So that's another one. And then um, I guess just like using different seasons or in my case like this month as like a. Well I'm using whole season but just like you know, not going through busy to slow, busy to slow, busy to slow, launched recovery, quarterly to monthly, you know, whatever that looks like for you, but just kind of like transitioning from season to season like a little bit in a more fluid, slow, calming way. Um, of course re entry time after weekends. Lots of people talk about this after vacations, after sick days, you kind of want to ease back in. You can't expect yourself to work a 10 hour work day right after, like you just took an entire week off. That's going to be very jarring. Um, and then the other thing I love. And this is, like, for those of us who get lots and lots of ideas. I know, I know. I know it too. Uh, you get lots of. Lots of ideas, and you want to act on them all right away, but instead, what if you put what I call an idea parking lot together, which is where you create a. Like, it's just actually where m. Mine is, just like a list. And, um, it has all the ideas that I want to implement, but then I don't take action on them all right away. They're all there in that little parking lot waiting for me, and I probably will do most of them. Uh, but it gives me just some time to let the idea sit and build and gives me time to really, really do it well. So. And I also get time to evaluate whether or not it's like, stick with the bowl and whether or not I have everything I need to execute it clearly and also well. So that was probably more ideas than you needed. I hope that you got way more of your own, as I was kind of sharing them with you. I didn't want to overwhelm you with ideas. But do remember, transitions can be a time, a very, very valuable time, where either I think our energy can kind of leak and get depleted, or we can bolster it stronger and protect it, and it can make the next step even better, even more focused, even more energized. Harsh transitions can be a big part of the reason that we feel behind or unable to slow down after being revved up, or that we're just always, always on, on, on, on. Right. So transitions can really help to cue your brain. What mode do I need to be in next? And most importantly, I think that they help you be more present in the moment that you're in, rather than always with one brain cell in the. In the last minute or one brain cell in the future. So setups, shutdowns, they really help your brain to clock in, clock out. And I know it's, like, not the most interesting thing, like, transitions aren't seemingly the work, right? People talk about their work. They don't talk about the shutdown and starting routines. But I do really believe that this is the work. This is key to having a much more enjoyable time working. So that is all I have for you. It wasn't as short as I was hoping, but it was short. It was short. Uh, so go forth, transition into your next task with ease and mental fortitude, and I will see you on Tuesday for another episode. Thanks for joining me on, um, this week's episode of Small business casual. If you love the show, make sure to rate, review and share it with a frazzled business owner that you care about. Because this shouldn't feel like a roller coaster ride, more like a scenic train ride with snacks. Don't forget those snacks, Sam.