You want to start working from home. You want to start coaching because, hey, to get paid to gab on the phone the live long day? Sign this Chatty Kathy up!
At the same time, you want to make it to that mellow 10:30 yoga class because then you’re not all upward dog in someone else’s downward dog,
You also want to be able to get out in the garden to plant the starts you picked up on Mother’s Day because it’s creeping up on Father’s Day already.
And these are all just some of the ‘would love to’s’ that might make up your ideal day.
And then there are all the ‘have to’s’. *sad trombone sound here*
But in Mama Bliss Land we pronounce that as the ‘get-to’s.
As in “I get to get groceries.” because – oh, my gawd, the abundance of the food that’s in that there store!
I get to make dinner because I get to take a moment in to listen to 90’s pop hits on Spotify while I listen the kids squeal in delight as they jump on the freshly put back together again trampoline and prepare to lavish my family innards with nourishment made with love.
I get to buy socks for my kids’ rapidly growing feet because we’re so blessed to live in a world where there are so many comfy and cute socks to choose from (Edie’s got an array of pug and dachshund socks. So excited her feet are almost the same size so we can start sharing those. Or is that kinda unhygienic?).
So really, our days are made up of stuff we get to do.
Doesn’t that feel so much more expansive than listing all the things we gotsta do?
And really, isn’t time all just relative? And can I just say I felt like a total genius just typing that?
A lovely Mama in the Mama Bliss and Biz Facebook group just mentioned today that echoes this sentiment; “being busy is a blessing”.
As long as your busyness is feeling spacious.
So without further adieu, here are eight habits to invite more spaciousness, imagined or otherwise (because, really, what’s the difference?) , into your days as a work from home mama who gets to do so much!
Habit 1: Begin your day with stillness.
And I’m pretty flexible in my definition of what meditation looks like. It can look like laying in bed, slack jawed, squeezing your wiener dog for a few extra minutes running through your day’s agenda for a few moments. Or you can actually meditate, meditate. Or meditate squared as I like to call it.
Use your own noggin, or try out an app like Insight or Headspace. Or, check out my own free meditation I created for mamas called the Ideal Day meditation.
(Just turn down the volume a titch for that first deep inhale I take. Shoulda blown my nose before hitting record.)
And speaking of head space…
Habit 2: Literally, create space.
Move furniture around. Get rid of furniture. Claim an arrangement of furniture, the floor it stands on and the ceiling above it as your work space, or meditation area, your sausage dog squeezing area. If you already have a room, nook or corner staked out as your work from home area (or yoga, or reading because spaciousness loves a delicious assortment of ‘get to’s’), define it more with a curtain, hanging plants, an area rug, a handmade sign.
A lovely way to be inspired in this realm is to pick up a book on feng shui. I heard an amazing podcast interview with Karen Rauch Carter who wrote and was super inspired to pick up her book Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life from the library and place with the literal space in my office and beyond.
I know what you’re thinking; no way. Feng shui!
Habit 3: Mix up where you work
I was making a graphic to showcase one of my Facebook Group Expert’s cuteness and decided to keep her laptop in the picture.
Normally I home in on the face but I loved how her set-up, with the lap top on her lap, the cozy living room, reminded me of half the fun of getting to work from home – that feeling of freedom of getting to work wherever you want.
You could occasionally take your gig to a coffee shop if that change of scenery ‘perks’ you up (ha, ha), but I even just like working from my bed sometimes, especially if the kids are jumping on the trampoline so I can more easily here if someone injures themselves.
Or these days, out on our deck where the weather is perfect right now. No excess bugs or forest fire smoke to totally bum me out at the moment.
Habit 4: Take sick, and not sick, sick days
That’s a lot of sick, yah?
The beauty of working from home, just like my definition of meditation, ‘sick days’ is pretty fluid in definition. One perk of actually getting sick once in a while is that once the illness passes, you are left with the contrast that is the amazing gift of feeling not sick.
And for a fresh example, look at me at the moment. I spent all of the May long weekend feeling under the weather. And just as I started this blog post I got surge of energy back and look at me going on and on on each of these pointers. I will try to rein myself in.
But you need not be sick. Maybe it’s the second day of your moon. Maybe you’re nursing a heart break. Maybe it’s your birthday. Maybe there’s a royal wedding two and half hour replay to be watched (okay, that was one thing that went well with my squeeze dog and head cold. That moment when he lifted her veil? Swooooon…).
Take a day off here and there and you’ll realize that it’s a possibility. The world will not implode.
In fact, the time making phenomena there is incredible. I feel like I can write ten blog posts right now but I get to get the kids from school in fifteen minutes. And that’s okay!
Habit 5: Notice what keeps you focused and do more of that
I go through phases on works for me focus wise. I had an app that helped me with brainwave friendly frequencies that I was pretty impressed by. But these days, 90’s Best Hits on Spotify is keeping me in a plaid flannel wrapped productivity spree I’m kinda digging.
Pomodoro works for me in seasons. And now I’m really loving having different themes for different days (Tuesdays for blog posts and newsletters, Wednesdays for Client Love and Thursdays for Facebook Lives over on the group).
Pay attention to what works for you in terms of keeping focused and keep doing that. Until you start getting really excited about shiny squirrels then try something else.
Habit 6: Notice what lures you away from being focused and stop doing that.
How’s that for repurposing content? Funny enough, that one’s coming up next (spoiler alert!). But seriously, what’s a ding! ding! ding! that goes off in your head when you bust yourself ‘treating yourself’ to a little downtime for a little too long?
Okay, guilt pleasure reveal here. I sometimes ‘treat’ myself for getting a task done with a little tmz read for some celebrity gossip top up.
But dang, that gets kinda gross after a while. And time flies when you’re psychoanalyzing Kanye West!
So, this mama had to put her boss hat on and only do the tmz thing when she was physically on the couch because she rarely finds herself there and working from there hurt her back. And writing in the third person hurts her brain after a while so she will stop now.
Habit 7: Repurpose as much as you can.
I can write a whole post on this alone because there are soooo many layers to this one. But because kids are probably at the school playground right now looking super neglected because I challenged myself to write this blog post before I go anywhere I’ll keep this brief and will expand on it more in a blog post coming soon to a laptop near you.
Imagine what you do for you online biz for marketing. For example, a Facebook live. Consider how you can transcribe it to turn it into a blog post, upload the video to youtube, share it to your Facebook page or group (whichever one you didn’t record it on). Turn it into a podcast episode.
Okay, so that’s the gist of it. But you can repurpose in your life outside of work, too.
Leftovers for lunch. Folding laundry with the kids as quality time. Walking the dog for movement. Gardening as meditation. Going to the gym to get caught up on your favourite podcasts.
Maybe it’s not as productive, or savoury, or quicker but it’s a reframe that makes it feel like there’s more spaciousness in your days, no?
Habit 8: Embrace imperfection.
Ironically, this is the perfect habit to end off with because I initially named this blog post 10 Habits That Support Spaciousness in Your Crammed Work Day but this post is three days late. If I don’t hit publish now you’re never going to ‘get to’ read this.
SO, I’m going to release my attachment to that beautiful, lusciously, round number of 10 and stop it here at 8 because, well, perfection’s paralyzing.
Release your work to the world (or as Seth Godin is known to say – Ship It) and remember you can always come back to your body of work later and make the tweaks and edits later. But until then, hit publish and take a deep breath in.
Doesn’t that feel deliciously spacious?
Oh my gawd, I just did that and after that deep in breath I noticed a. that felt yummy. And b. that the number 8 is twice as round as 10.
Dude! Mind blown.
Imperfection works in mysterious ways.
Okay, Mama there are your habits you can pick up before you throw some of them down if that feels good.
And if you want the spaciousness ship to sail through into your summer while the kids are home, I invite you to join me in a five day challenge that’s coming up pretty darn tooting quick.
It’s the Summer Loving Bliss Challenge. It’s five days (obvs) and you’ll walk through a process and invited into a community that is striving for spaciousness in life AND biz, with kids and without, all summer holidays long.
Click the big giant button to learn more and sign up! The bliss plan making begins June 11, 2018.
