Know Your Numbers Before Your Pivot

As part of my downtime during the Summer of Rest, I do have some adulting maintenance on my list of goals. Catching up on 2.5 years of doctor’s appointments, opening and shredding the non-priority envelopes piling up on the kitchen counter and my personal favorite–recalibrating my financial goals for the rest of 2022.

For those of you who have been following along for a while now, you may remember I’m a bit of a financial tracking nerd. I’ve been using the tool, You Need A Budget (YNAB) for about 6 years in my personal finances (and I first wrote about in 2017!). This year I’ve also implemented a Profit First approach in my business.

All to say, I’m deeply grounded in my numbers. This helps me:

1. Spend within my means.

2. Set aside money for taxes and annual expenses throughout the year so I’m not in a money crunch when these bills come due.

3. Understand my financial needs and responsibilities so I know if and when I can pivot.

4. Intentionally save 2% of my earnings for giving to causes that are important to me.

5. Move through my fears around money–holding onto it, growing it, trusting myself when it comes to managing it.

So, this past weekend, I stepped into some honesty about my year to date and got clear on what I need to do in order to meet my goals.

And the truth was the relief I needed. I know exactly what I need to do with my current offerings to get where I want to be.

My internalized hustle culture says…but you can do more. It can be bigger. You can create something new.

Yet right now, my rest and this different pace is more important to me than more and bigger and new. This is the 2022 pivot.

As part of my financial puzzle, I’ve allocated my giving funds to a monthly donation for the National Network of Abortion Funds. The pride of knowing a percentage of my earnings will always go to the causes I fight for within my work–makes me feel like the business itself is a vehicle aligned with my values on multiple fronts.

This is part of the work I help clients master. We answer the questions…

What does a life of meaning look like to you?

What kind of work does that include?

What are the true numbers that could facilitate that life?

Now, let’s talk about how to get you there!

All of our work together is grounded in the reality of your life and your set of variables. Yet, we need to say the hard things–the truth about where you are right now so we can get you on the road to being where you want to be.

I’d love to help you get clear on your vision for a meaningful life and what you’ll need to make your big shift happen.

How to Do Less Right Now

Last week, I wrote about rest.

I wrote about it because 1) I’m committed to writing weekly and 2) It was the only honest truth about where I was/am right now.

And then…surprise! It received the most attention of all the writing I’ve shared in many months.

My big takeaway: people are damn tired.

And you’re not just tired. You’re depleted, exhausted. Disconnected from joy, creativity and possibilities.

I continue to see you, stand with you and advocate for your recharge.

Part of normalizing rest is offering transparency. In my own experiment of doing less, I’m tracking to have a higher revenue month than those where I was “working through it” and pushing the boulder up the hill.

I’m leading calls with potential clients refreshed and ready to deliver results.

I’m showing up with presence and curiosity, guiding my Chief groups through discussions around intense leadership challenges.

Three of my clients received job offers in the past week! While that’s not truly about MY results, it doesn’t make me any less excited about this experiment!

One resource that can be helpful for you as you run your own experiment is this podcast episode from Hidden Brain: Do Less (shared by a client - thank you!!).

In it, Engineer and Author, Leidy Klotz offers up the idea of creating a “stop-doing list” in addition to your to-do list. He recommends that you should have an equal amount of things you want to stop doing as you do on your to-do list.

While I haven’t been able to accomplish that yet, I have clearly written on my stop-doing list:

1. Create a new program or course.

2. Take on clients who are not a fit for me.

3. Work 40+ hours.

4. Work on the low priority tasks before the high priority deeper work.

I’ve been walking around with this list in my mind for a few weeks now, but putting it down on paper has kept me true to what I want for the summer. Especially, as an entrepreneur with Activator as my #2 Clifton Strength (where my Clifton nerds at?). I LOVE to create new things. Even when I have a hunch they may not be the right things for my business or me. Cutting this out and focusing on the great programs I already have in place has already been a deeply felt lesson.

If you want to strategize on how you can recharge this summer, sign up for a single session and we’ll help you with your "Do Less" Plan.

How I'm Recharging This Summer

I’m resting.

I’m owning that this year has been exhausting.

I’m acknowledging that the direction of our country is disconcerting and I need time to regroup before I put together a plan of action for how I will do my part.

This year (so far) in business has been exciting and meaningful – and there’s also been a lot of change and program launches and growth.

My hunger for a recharge is stronger now than in the past few summers.

So I’m listening.

I’m not launching any new programs. (She says with a deep exhale.)

I’m focused on my 1:1 clients, sharing the Elevator Pitch beauty of my Summer Bundle, wrapping up powerfully with my current cohort of Career Command Four-Month Shift and guiding my three Chief groups through their leadership growth.

Instead of launching new programs, I’m exercising, meeting friends and colleagues for many coffees, seeing art and theater and all of NYC’s offerings I forget to embrace when I’m too busy and overwhelmed.

I’m leaning into all that energizes me.

And I’m releasing the shame that naturally comes up from the thoughts and fears that tell me - You’re not doing enough! Do. Do. Do.

I’ve done a lot. I’m doing enough. And I will do more when I’ve rested.

How will you be resting this summer? How will you acknowledge all that you’ve accomplished in an intense moment in time? How will you listen to your hunger and release your shame–in whatever flavor it appears right now?

Where we go from here...

If you have been in a rage since Friday, I see you and I’m right there with you. There’s no minimizing how grave a situation this truly is. Our constitutional rights, our bodily autonomy, our complete personhood have been erased under the law of this country. 

For the past few days, I could barely look my daughters in the eyes without crying, knowing that together we will be fighting for access to safe abortion care for many years to come. 

Yet to quote our inspiring Rabbi Rachel Timoner at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn…“Here’s the thing I know. * I’m going to say something surprising. * We are winning. It does not feel like it today. Of course it doesn’t. But girls and women and female-identified people today are more certain about our equality than we ever have been in history. We know that gender has nothing to do with ability or promise. We know -- girls today know -- without a doubt that we are capable of anything we set our minds to. No one – no court, no law  – can make us go back. This I know. We are fierce, we are determined, and we are powerful. There is no stopping the girls and women and female-identified people of these generations and those who will follow us. We will be completely and entirely equal. The next wave of the movement begins now.”

This rings as truth in my bones and through every cell of my being. I needed to hear it last Saturday and I know I will read it often. I’ve gathered some resources for next steps for all of us. I am here to listen. To hear your stories. To be a community in grief and in action. 

Listen (podcasts)

The Daily: Inside Four Abortion Clinics the Day Roe Ended

UNDISTRACTED with Brittany Packnett Cunningham: The Roe v. Wade News—and Finding Hope

Ezra Klein Show: The Dobbs Decision Isn’t Just About Abortion. It’s About Power. 

Strict Scrutiny: Roe is dead. Now what? (For those who want to get into the details of the decision and the dissent. PSA - the more you know, the worse it gets so proceed with caution.)

Read

How to Show up For Abortion Access: A guide to actions, messaging and a long list of ways to engage from Alison Turkos

Don’t Ban Equality: See where your potential or current employer stands in advocating for equity and women’s healthcare.

Citizens No More: What the reversal of Roe means for women’s work

Your State Will Not Save You: Anne Helen Peterson, writer of the substack, Culture Study, shares the most effective way forward which will not be easy and will be a longterm steady approach to regaining our rights to own our healthcare decisions. 

Give

Local Abortion Funds in every state

Reproductive justice organizations: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda and National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, so that funds will go directly to the most impacted communities. 

Act

Tell Joe Biden: Open Abortion Clinics on Federal Lands

The Women’s March offers several ways to engage including marching in one of the SUMMER OF RAGE (aptly named!) protests across the country, joining a local community circle or working to attack misinformation and trolling on social media. 

ACLU: Sign up to be a defender of abortion rights. You will receive alerts about volunteer opportunities to support the cause. 

I will keep you updated on my actions and I would love for you to continue to send me yours that need to be amplified or shared.