802: Finding What Gives You Joy and Delegating the Rest

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Last week’s episode was all about the “perfectionism” that keeps us from getting the right help. This episode will help you organize what you do in such a way that balances strengths with activities that give you joy, plus, it will inspire you to bust through any resistance you have to getting things done.

It’s challenging to find the right activities you should be doing when you are building a “Business of YOU” which is 1000% you. But remember that running a “Business of YOU” does not mean YOU have to do it all yourself.

The YOU part is about culture. It’s about what gives you the most joy. It’s about you giving yourself permission to run your business the way you want, earn the income you want and work with the clients you want to work with.

The rest you need to figure out what to do with. Things you’re not great at. Things you don’t want to do. And I’m going to be talking about a matrix tool that will help you organize it all so you know what tasks you can offload through delegation, automation or elimination.

In next weeks episode, my guest is Sean Rosensteel, who wrote The School of Intentional Living. He briefly touches on a modified decision matrix that’s focused on viewing tasks and things you need to get done through the lens of what gives you the most/least joy. His book is very good and will definitely help you get better organized, and I recommend it.

In this episode, however, I’m going to walk you through a hybrid exercise of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix and what Sean talks about regarding what I’ll call the Joy Matrix.

In the Eisenhower Matrix, you have four quadrants. Just Google it, and you’ll find all kinds of images, videos and resources. But for now, I’ll just walk you through them, as it’s the foundation of this conversation. The two on the top are categorized as important, the two on the bottom are not important. If you’re already familiar with the Eisenhower Matrix, I’ll make this brief, so hang tight.

The top left quadrant is important and urgent so you need to do it asap yourself. The top right quadrant is important but not urgent, so the goal is to schedule it. The bottom left quadrant is not important but urgent, and so you need to delegate it. And the final bottom right quadrant is not important, not urgent, and this is where you clean house and simply eliminate it.

There are many variants of this model, including the joy model that Sean Rosensteel will talk about in the next episode, where you modify the Eisenhower decision matrix based on the joy factor, which I think is pretty cool.

When you add in the joy factor, the matrix becomes even clearer. And if you’re out to run a lifestyle business that’s 1000% you, I’m sure you want some joy in your experience. Not just for you, but for your clients and everyone your 1000% touches.

So there is an effective tool and spin on the tool that will help you figure some things out.

But here is the reality, and often what we do: we don’t take the time to use the tool, or a tool that helps us be more efficient and extract more enjoyment from our work.

Let me ask you this. When you claim you don’t have time to do something—a task, a project, a chore, whatever it may be—is it because you really don’t have the time, or is it because you simply just don’t want to do it?

When you complain about being too busy, not having enough time, not getting stuff done, why is that? Look at the excuses you’re making and examine why you’re making them. Ask yourself, “Do I want to do this?” And if the answer is no, ask yourself why. Why don’t you want to do it? Is it because you don’t know how? Do you fear what will happen if you do it and you don’t get the result you want when it’s done? Is it because you’re lazy? Is it because you doubt your worthiness to receive what’s on the other end of that thing getting done?

Here’s 1000% me example from my own business.

Throughout my 15 years being in business for myself, I’ve always struggled with sales. (See right there how I have a story about it? My story being that “I struggle with sales.”) I won’t go into super detail as to why or how that came into being, as it just perpetuates the story I have about sales. But what I want to tell you here is the excuses I kept coming up with to keep me from being in action around selling. They ranged from perfecting my products, tweaking my website copy, back and forth hesitation of who I would reach out to, and crafting dozens of iterations of outreach email copy, taking care of my existing clients and on and on and on.

These excuses—which I totally sold myself on—kept me from selling. They kept me out of an experience that scared and intimidated me, and triggered all of the negative conditioning I compiled from when I was young.

The more I thought about selling and that I wasn’t being in action about it, the more I beat up on myself for not doing it. The more I reinforced my story that “I wasn’t good at sales, and that I didn’t like selling,” the more it perpetuated itself.

And my business suffered as a result of my paralysis, story and excuses to back up that story.

But let me tell you what. It has nothing to do with capability. Because when I get on the phone with a prospective client and engage in a conversation about their solopreneur business, I totally shine. Some of the best conversations happen when I’m selling, but really, it’s helping my prospect get clear on what they need. And, I get business.

So in my example, I saw the outcome of being in action around sales. I got business. I built relationships. I got my name out there. I learned what my ideal clients were struggling with. Yet, with all of these positive outcomes that I intellectually knew I could achieve when I was in action, the resistance was still there. The excuses still flowed. The rationalizations and justifications for not being in action popped up everywhere.

At any time I can sit down and use the Eisenhower Matrix to figure out my time and tasks in spite of the head trash and story that will always be present in my thinking.

So. Here’s the key. You simply have to push your way through any story that’s keeping you from being 1000% you. From performing. From putting yourself out there. From getting stuff done that you know you should be doing. From loving your business and giving it a fighting chance to become what it has the potential of becoming. From living your best life as a solopreneur.

My advice is this. Use a tool that works for you. Give yourself the gift of organization. And be in action. Now.