breathe
I’m very familiar with my tendency to overthink and over plan. It’s what has made me a really good event manager. It’s a role I often fall back into because the skills necessary to do the job well come really naturally to me. In fact, I’ve been told that my events are some of the most seamless experiences guests have had. No detail is unthought of.
I pride myself on my attention to detail.
When I’m working on plans for whatever the thing is — thinking up new projects, figuring out the future, planning an event — my high-intensity, internal detail energy fires. My mind jumps around, copious notes are taken, spreadsheets become epic along with what become project plans.
Long before I knew that there were official ways to plan projects, and that you could become a degreed project manager, I was planning the fuck out of projects. From the day a neighbor kid and I cracked open rocks from our yard and sold them to other neighbors. I had a plan.
My planning and project management skills have served me well in so many of the roles I’ve had throughout my life. Volunteer, student, event manager, server, manager, nonprofit pro, business advisor, rock seller (the pretty, sparkly, non-drug kind), human.
I mean really, paying attention to the details and planning are my jam. I love all things productivity because they make the detail work and execution of a plan so much better!
What I’m learning every day though, is that I have to take time to pause in the middle of all the planning and project managment. I have to breathe. Replenish.
These brain breaks are super important to the whole process. Our minds needs room to breathe so the information consumed or big ideas thunk up can simmer. When I go at rumbling boil pace for hours on end — heck, days on end — it’s almost like the work I’ve put in starts to undo itself.
I’ve learned that I’m extra productive in hour and a half to two hour sprints. Then my brain needs anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour or more to simmer. After the simmering, I find that things start coming back to a boil organically. For example, I could strategize my butt off for an hour and a half, take a 30 minute brain break (mindless social media scrolling, have a snack, go for a little walk — whatever, as long as it’s a true break from hard thinking), and then cool ideas will start to pop up again. Kind of like popcorn.
For the past two days I’ve been on a solo retreat at a lovely hotel resort on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico (thank you credit card points and Trader Joe’s snacks for making it possible). The intention for this trip is to take my business to scale next year. Oh yeah, I formed my LLC this month. Super exciting to be legitimate. Eek!
When I was packing just two nights ago, I was having thoughts about the possibility of having brain freeze and my time and money going to waste. What if I don’t get everything done that I want to get done? What if I don’t come up with anything good and exciting? What if…? Blah.
Welp, I can tell you that I have not had brain freeze and, also, I have not gotten everything done that I wanted to get done. But I DID come up with really good and exciting stuff. The right stuff. For me, right now.
When I head home tomorrow, I will have a blueprint for the future of my company. Yeah, that’s right. Company. I’m practicing the use of language that conveys what I really want vs. what feels safe (i.e., business vs. company).
My secret sauce for getting things done and not going down any rabbit holes the last 48 hours has been intentional pauses to let my thoughts breathe and my mind rest. Just today, which was super productive, I stopped at least 8 times. For a meditation class, two trips to the dry sauna, to snack, for dinner, to scroll mindlessly on social media, to post on social media and to text loved ones.
One might say, “Now the real work begins.” To that I say, “This has been real work. Now the implementation begins and I’ve got a roadmap so I won’t be going off on to the shoulder or getting stuck behind any traffic jams.” Sure, I’m learning as I go and things that cause detours will inevitably come up. But everyone is learning as they go and looking for those orange signs. Luckily I’m also a really good driver. Learned on a standard transmission when I was 13.