Tips for Tough Times in Business and Life | 099

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Welcome to Architecture Business Club, the show that helps

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you build a better business in architecture so you can enjoy more

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freedom, flexibility, and fulfillment.

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I'm your host, John Clayton, and if you're joining us for the first time, don't

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forget to hit the follow or subscribe button so you never miss another episode.

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In this episode, I'm talking about what to do when life throws you a curve ball.

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Like when things perhaps don't go to plan, or when you happen to be having a tough

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time in business or life, I'll share a few quick tips that you can try out and

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hopefully help you to muddle through.

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So why am I talking about this today?

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I've had some recent personal challenges over the past few months and in

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particular over the past few weeks.

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This has included family illness and more recently bereavement.

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I'm not looking for sympathy and I know that everybody has got

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their own cross to bear, and you might be having a hard time too.

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So what I thought I'd do is I'd share.

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What's helped me when life has thrown me a curve ball and things have felt tough.

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So here's a few thoughts for things you can try to muddle on through.

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The first idea was to pause or drop the non-essentials.

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So if you are juggling any stuff in your business or in your life

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that isn't essential, drop it or at the very least, pause it.

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I heard business coach Mike Cole, who spoke back on episode 16 about

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embracing your neurodivergent quirks.

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I heard Mike speak.

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Recently about this, and he likens this to uncoupling carriages from your train.

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So you are not carrying any unnecessary load now.

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I think this is a really smart idea and you can always pick them up again later.

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For me, this meant hitting pause on the weekly online sessions

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that I'd been hosting with the Architecture Business Club community.

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It was a really tough decision for me to make, but it felt like the right

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thing to do, and they can always be brought back when the time feels right.

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Remember, as a business owner, you get to choose what you say yes or no to.

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So choose wisely.

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I appreciate it's probably not going to be possible for you to

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pause or drop absolutely everything.

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There are going to be essential tasks that remain.

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So if you find yourself sat at your desk, struggling to know what thing

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to work on, and maybe you are having a day when things feel tough, I'd

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recommend just picking something.

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If the work you've got left still feels too hard to do,

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just pick a low energy task.

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Something that's easy requires a low amount of your energy or your bandwidth.

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I spent a whole day recently updating our podcast cover

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art and cleaning out my inbox.

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These were not high priority or absolutely essential tasks

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to do, but I did them because.

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Those were the tasks that I had the energy to work on that day.

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They did need doing anyway.

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It made me feel good because I got to tick some things off my to-do list.

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And if you try to work on something that maybe even on a normal day feels

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hard or requires intense concentration from you, you just won't get much

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done or make much progress and it's probably going to make you feel worse.

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So.

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Be okay with parking those tasks for now and pick some tasks to work on

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that you can make some progress with.

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Another thing that I think is a great thing to do is to spend some time

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with lifter uppers, and this is a term that I am stealing from Penny

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Pickering, the co-founder of the fabulous co-work crew events in the uk.

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So these are monthly co-working days where you get to hang out with

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lovely people, do a bit of work, and do a bit of networking and.

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Eat some cake.

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Penny has started calling the attendees lifter uppers because

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that is exactly what they do.

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Everybody that attends these events are really supportive.

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People that are always willing to help out others and give them

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that little lift when you need it.

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I attended one of their events recently in Cambridge.

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I didn't do much work, but the friendly conversation was exactly what I needed

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that day, and I got to try three different types of delicious cake,

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which, I mean, who doesn't like cake?

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It's, it's always a good day with cake.

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So do you know any lifter uppers who could you spend a little more

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time with to brighten up your day if you're going through a difficult time?

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And I would suggest checking out episode 37 on building connections

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and the importance of networking.

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So that may be something that you find useful.

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If maybe you haven't been to any events like that for a little little

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while, look for the good stuff.

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It is there somewhere.

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If you run your own business, there will always be a season

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or two when things feel.

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Incredibly tough, but despite how hard it feels, there is usually still

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something good going on somewhere, either in your life or in your business.

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So seek out that good stuff.

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Ask yourself what are you feeling grateful for today?

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If this all sounds a bit woo woo.

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Just bear with me.

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This stuff really does help, especially if you write it down,

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if you think that's worth a try.

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Check out episode 95 where I talk about how bullet journaling

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has helped me, in particular in helping me declutter my busy brain.

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Celebrate the wins, however small.

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Now, you've probably heard this before, but as a business owner, particularly if

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you're a solopreneur, this is so important because if you don't celebrate your wins,

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no one else is gonna celebrate them.

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And when you're firefighting client projects or getting frustrated that you

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haven't made much progress as perhaps you would've hoped with your practice

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website, adding that case study, updating your blog posting on LinkedIn, at least

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celebrate the progress that you did make.

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It all counts, even if you didn't progress as far as you hoped this week.

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This podcast hit a downloads milestone, which I'm really proud of.

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So I am celebrating it.

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Next week we are due to release our 100th episode.

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How crazy is that?

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So these might be small things to some people, but for me

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it's a big deal, you know?

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So I'm absolutely gonna try and celebrate that.

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But sometimes.

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Despite trying all these things, you may just need to take some time off.

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So if you need to take some time off, if you need a break, just take some time off.

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In the grand scheme of things, taking a day or even a week off

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work will not really make much difference at all in the long term.

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So stick on your email out of office, let the clients know that

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you had to take some time off.

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You can be vague about that if you wish, or, or maybe just say, taking

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time off for personal reasons.

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I'll leave that entirely up to you, and most good people

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will completely understand.

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As long as you're clear and you communicate when you're likely

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to be back, most people will be absolutely fine with that.

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And I think probably the most important thing is just to say, be kind to yourself.

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Look after yourself.

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You need to put on your own oxygen mask before you start

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trying to save other people.

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You will be no good to anybody if you burn out and collapse in a heap.

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So let's try and avoid that at all costs.

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So what is it that makes you feel good?

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Could you do a bit more of that over the coming weeks?

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And what is it that's leaving you feeling drained?

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Could you do a bit less of that over the next week or two?

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How could you rebalance your week so that you can muddle through this next season?

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And remember, just like seasons of the year, seasons in life don't last forever.

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Even the tough ones.

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Before you know it, things are going to start looking brighter again.

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So until then, take care my friend,

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Next time it's our 100th episode.

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So I've put together something special with a little help

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from some friends of the show.

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Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Architecture Business Club.

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show your support for the show, then please leave a five star review or

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And if you haven't done so already, don't forget to hit the follow or subscribe

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button so you never miss another episode.

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And if you'd like to connect with me online, you can do that

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on most social media platforms.

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Just search for @mrjonclayton.

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The best place to connect with me online is LinkedIn and you can find a

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link to my profile in the show notes.

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Remember running your architecture business doesn't have to be hard

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and you don't need to do it alone.

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This is Architecture Business Club.