Banishing business myths and creating my own rules
It’s no secret that the traditional way of working isn’t working.
Capitalism doesn’t care about your life commitments, your family life, your health, your style of learning or the way of working that works best for you. Capitalism cares about endless production. Even at the expense of your wellbeing and your physical and mental health.
Almost everything we believe to be true about work is just a set of arbitrary beliefs, a long list of business myths, that we never consented to.
The 9-5 framework is an antiquated relic that hasn’t changed since the 1800s.
Yet, it’s still the norm. That doesn’t sound like enough progress in 200-odd years, does it?
Banishing the “rules” around work
You started your own business because you wanted to work in a way that honours your needs and wants. You wanted a business that works for you, not one that runs your life.
This is what we’ve been taught about work in the Western world:
- Work is Monday-Friday, at least 8 hours a day. If you deviate from those hours, you need to make up the time you lost. Oh and you should feel guilty about losing it in the first place.)
- You’re sometimes subtly and sometimes explicitly shamed for taking time off for illness, bereavement, life changes or mental health.
- If you’re not putting in extra hours (often unpaid) and going the extra mile every day, you’re not doing enough.
- You’re seen as having a bad attitude or being lazy and noncommittal if you’re not the first one in and the last one out. If work isn’t the most important thing in your life. If you don’t sacrifice parts of yourself to your career.
Let’s finally call bullshit on all of this. Let’s banish these business myths.
These myths are so ingrained in us that we often end up mirroring the same structures in our own businesses. We do this even though we go self-employed to give ourselves more ease, joy and autonomy.
We adopt the same structures usually because it’s the only way we know how to work. It feels bloody difficult to create your own way when there isn’t a blueprint.
So, it is any wonder you don’t have the sense of freedom and flexibility you wanted when you first made the decision to work for yourself?
Having a word with the boss – yourself
By slipping into those old familiar behaviours and beliefs around work, many people who work for themselves end up becoming their own tyrannical bosses. You may even have become the worst boss you’ve ever had.
Does any of this sound familiar?
- You don’t give yourself proper breaks or time off.
- You tell yourself you’re not good enough and what you’re doing is shit.
- You check your inbox first thing in the morning, last thing at night and when you’re on holiday.
- You give yourself long to-do lists and unrealistic expectations that you’d never put on anyone else.
- You berate yourself when you’d never berate others.
Nobody sees you being the worst boss to yourself, which means it’s easy to keep doing it.
But, mate. This is not what you signed up for. You signed up for a life and business of freedom, flexibility, joy and ease. You can become the best boss you’ve ever had. So, let’s get to it.
Exploring your wants
If you’ve realised the way you’re currently working is not working for you, you can choose to change it. You can choose to develop a dreamy work schedule and style, doing work that you love.
To create your own rules for your business, start with your wants.
- When, how and where do you want to work?
- When is your energy at its highest and where do you want to prioritise that energy?
- What kind of people do you want to work with?
For example, I know that I hate working on my phone. Although one of my marketing channels, Instagram, is on my phone, everything else I do on my computer or tablet at my desk. But I know for brainstorming and coming up with creative ideas, I need to not be at my desk.
I also know I only want to respond to emails when I have the brain space. This means I don’t promise to respond right away and I make that clear in my email signature. So I’ve set boundaries and given myself permission to follow my natural instincts.
When we’ve been conditioned for so long to believe work should be sunrise-sunset chained to a desk with a maximum 1-hour break, it feels really hard to figure out how you naturally work best.
So here is how you figure it out: experiment.
Finding your natural work style
Experiment with working in different places, at different times, and keep a note of your energy levels throughout the day. And not just for a week or two. Give yourself months.
Say to yourself:
- Okay, I’m going to give myself three months. I’m going to design a little experiment for myself to figure out the secret sauce of how my brain works and how my energy flows naturally.
Give yourself this time to experiment and play. To listen to your natural instincts and rhythms. Give yourself time to actually get to know yourself again.
Give yourself radical permission. Give yourself all the permission in the world to try whatever your beautiful brain wants to try because the things sold to us as “rules” in business are myths.
None of these business myths have to be followed. They exist simply because some old rich white men decided this was the way it was going to be.
At the end of your experiment, look back on your notes to identify when you work best. And if you’re not using that time for the work you love the most, have a think about how you can better use your high energy time.
If you find, for example, your energy is highest in the morning and you notice you’ve been using that time to respond to emails, ask yourself:
- Is using my high energy time for this task going to have the biggest impact on my business? Or should I be using it for my own marketing, client work, planning or creating?
That’s how you figure out what you want your own rules to be. That’s how you design your style of working. By giving yourself permission.
Your own rules will naturally counter the way we’ve been taught work should be. And it might feel difficult to implement your own rules at first. But remind yourself you don’t need to justify it to yourself or anyone else. This is the way I want to do this is justification enough.
Banish those outdated business myths, set your own rules and set your own boundaries, my love. Spread the word about the experiment you’ve done and we’ll all start to have more fun, healthy and sustainable businesses.
