Starting or scaling your business involves countless moving parts, but you can grow your online business without burnout.
When you discover you’re busy but not productive, frustration and procrastination can kick in, causing you to feel extremely discouraged.
Some even question the vision and excitement they felt at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey.
In this week’s podcast episode, I share the techniques and affirmations that have transformed how I manage my workload and mental well-being.
I’ll share practical advice to stay focused, flexible, and productive as you continue your entrepreneurial journey.
Here’s What You’ll Discover in This Podcast Episode!
- Understanding the science behind brain pathways and how they govern our reality.
- Overcoming fear and embracing change as a business owner.
- Implementing realistic goals and progress tracking.
- Building resilience and confidence through positive affirmations.
- Creating a supportive community to amplify personal and professional growth.
Episode Key Takeaways
- Take a personal inventory of your personal and business life to make informed decisions.
- Our stories shape our reality, but improving these stories can create a positive feedback loop that makes us stronger and more resilient.
- It’s possible to achieve audacious goals without burnout to scale your business.
Episode Quotes to Remember
“Excellence is good, but seeking perfection is not good.”
“Doing your best without seeking perfectionism allows you to maintain momentum.”
“Say no to tasks that don’t align with your goals or that drain your energy.”
Related Episodes
Episode #100 Overcome the Limitation of Shortsighted Goals
Episode #78 Three Needed Changes When Working Hard is Not Enough
Episode #16 Why “Done is Better Than Perfect” Is Not the Right Mindset
Your Next Step
Feeling Overwhelmed in Your Business? Take a Step Toward Clarity!
If you feel your business is becoming overwhelming and know there must be a better way to reach your goals, take a simple step forward today.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute coaching call with me to explore strategies tailored to your needs.
Schedule your complimentary coaching call now: https://marisashadrick.com/contact/
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Marisa Shadrick [00:00:13]:
Hello. Hello. And welcome to the Amplify Your Authority podcast. I am your host, Marisa Shadrick. I’m an online marketing strategist and certified copywriter. And I’m so glad you’re listening today because we have an important topic. Many people, as they’re initiating or scaling or beginning their business, there are a lot of moving parts and they can find themselves overwhelmed. And they feel the pressure or the tension to do a lot of things at the same time.
Marisa Shadrick [00:00:43]:
And they get in this situation where they’re busy, but they’re not really getting a lot of things done. And that could be very frustrating. They can feel overwhelmed. Maybe they’ll procrastinate, and they don’t feel that fulfillment that they want to when they first started their business. So this topic is all about how to avoid burnout as you grow your online business. Now, these 5 tips are also going include affirmations. Now, funny story about affirmations. I thought there were a lot of woo woo stuff back in the day, but there’s a lot of science behind affirmations, and I’ve come to realize how valuable they are.
Marisa Shadrick [00:01:22]:
I knew about brain science and about pathways that we have and how we can create new pathways, but I never made the connection with affirmations. And I was reading this book and you may have read it. This is my second time going through it. It’s Mind Your Mindset by Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller. And there was a portion of that that all of a sudden it clicked. So I’m gonna read it to you so I get it correct. And I’m going to, then share the 5 tips with the affirmations. Now, if you don’t know anything about brain science or or the plasticity of our brain, we have these default ruts, you might say, where our brain is always trying to find answers or solutions for us.
Marisa Shadrick [00:02:06]:
And sometimes those ruts are based on false beliefs, limiting beliefs, it could be based on a negative experience in our past, and it will create these ruts. And so, the outcome may not serve you as well as you would like. But here’s the beautiful part about the brain. It can create new pathways, but it takes a long time to rewire your brain. So as you say affirmations over and over again, week after week, and you say it to yourself month after month, you begin to build new pathways and these have to align with your beliefs and your values. They can’t be something outrageous that you just pull out of the air. It has to be something that’s true about you. And, you can listen to these affirmations, you can record them for yourself, or you can read them, and you can go through these affirmations.
Marisa Shadrick [00:02:56]:
And, what you’re doing is you’re building these new pathways. And so when you’re busy going about your work, you’re gonna see things differently. You’re not gonna be as fearful. You’re not gonna be as hesitant. You’re not gonna question yourself. And so this is the paragraph that I read where things started clicking together. They were talking a lot a lot about the brain science. And here it says, if our stories, and these are the stories that we tell ourselves in our brain, right? If our stories determine our experience of reality, we can improve our reality by improving our stories.
Marisa Shadrick [00:03:31]:
And that creates a positive feedback loop that rewires our brain, making us stronger, more resilient, and more capable of addressing the choices, changes, and chances of life. So once it clicked and I understood what I was doing, I was creating new pathways, then I started embracing the idea of affirmations. So I had to give you that little backstory before I give you the 5 tips with the affirmations. So it makes a little bit of sense. Maybe you already do this. Maybe I was late to catch the train. Right? But in any event, I’m gonna share this with you. So this is all about avoiding burnout as you grow your business.
Marisa Shadrick [00:04:15]:
And I’ve got 5 tips for you. So the first one is embrace reality. Take a look at where you are right now. What are your results? Are you growing revenue? Are you growing your email list? And look at at the reality with your personal life as well and with your health. Just kinda take inventory and embrace reality. Recognize the current state of your personal and business life without judgment or denial. So this is not a way to condemn yourself or anything. This is just looking at facts and making observations and figuring out or understanding your starting point.
Marisa Shadrick [00:04:58]:
And so it’s always good to have that awareness of a starting point to be able to make informed decisions of what’s next when you’re planning for growth. So that’s the first tip is embrace reality. And I do this a lot when I journal. I ask myself a series of questions and I embrace reality where I’m at right now without judgment and without denial. So, here’s the affirmation. These are some affirmations that I’ve just written. They’ll probably change and evolve because I’m new at this affirmation thing. I’ve never done it before, and so I’m new with this.
Marisa Shadrick [00:05:31]:
And if you have any tips with affirmations, I would love to hear it. Or if you’re an expert in that, maybe I can have you on the podcast. So in any event, here’s what I wrote, affirmation. And this has to do with embracing reality. My affirmation is I have been given the gift of life, and I am responsible for how I steward it. With my unique gifts, talents, and experiences, I will navigate challenges and learn what I need to know. I will stay focused, flexible, and teachable. I control my choices and will celebrate successes while gaining wisdom from my outcomes.
Marisa Shadrick [00:06:12]:
Now, you can gain wisdom from negative outcomes too, so that’s the part that I didn’t write, but I’m thinking about that when I’m reading this, because not everything is always a success. So we learn though from every experience. Number 2. The next tip I have for you to avoid burnout while you’re growing your business or starting an online business is commit to change. You have to see change as a friend. You have to see that change has value. Yes. It is scary.
Marisa Shadrick [00:06:43]:
I went through a lot of changes when I was overcoming fear. A lot of changes. And I think I’ve shared some of the things that I did because I had so many negative stories in my head when I was entering this international speech competition that I literally put bracelets that I had. I had these these bracelets that were, like, must have been, like, 12 bracelets that all matched. They were just a a number of bracelets, and they were really pretty, but they clanked a lot. And so I put these bracelets on, and every time I had a negative thought or limiting belief or something that was not serving me right, I’d stop. I take the bracelet, I’d reframe it in my mind, and then I put it on the other arm. Now, I didn’t realize that that was a form of affirmation.
Marisa Shadrick [00:07:28]:
That was in 2015. Right? I just never connected the dots. And so I had to do that to be aware of the stories I was telling myself in my brain. But we have to commit to change because if you’re in an online have some kind of online business or you’re a service provider, change is going to be your business partner. It’s just the way it is. And so it takes courage to venture into new territory. And even if you validated your offerings and you know that there’s a market there for it, it still can be a little scary. Right? You have to trust yourself and navigate the unknown because it won’t be unknown forever.
Marisa Shadrick [00:08:12]:
It may be unknown right now, but eventually it won’t be in an unknown. It’ll be familiar and you’ll be able to tackle a new change. So stay flexible and be prepared to adapt. So here’s my affirmation for commit to change. My affirmation is I am open to new possibilities and embrace creativity with confidence. I seek risk. That was hard when I wrote that. I seek risk as a chance to grow and learn valuable lessons.
Marisa Shadrick [00:08:50]:
I will confront my hidden fears, expand my potential, and become a trusted leader who serves with empathy and love. So that is the outcome of embracing change for me. So when you’re thinking of some of the things that you want to do, and we’ve covered 2 for the first one is embrace reality. 2nd is commit to change. Think about maybe creating some affirmations for yourself as well. Okay. Tip number 3 is accept imperfection. This was a biggie for me because I am a perfectionist or recovering perfectionist.
Marisa Shadrick [00:09:28]:
I am a type a. I’m an Enneagram 1, and this was something that I’ve been working on for years. I’ve been working on it for years, and I realized that excellence is good, but seeking perfection is not good. No one is perfect And doing your best without seeking perfectionism allows you to maintain momentum. It won’t slow you down, and you won’t be paralyzed by fear, or judgment, or even potential failure. So you will accept imperfection and continue moving forward knowing that it’s still good, it’s still excellent. But we start thinking that it needs to be perfect because we start looking at what other people are doing, and we start comparing. But with what you’re doing, with the resources you have and the knowledge you have, do the best that you can pursue excellence, but don’t let perfectionism get in the way.
Marisa Shadrick [00:10:32]:
Be kind to yourself. Acknowledge that everyone experiences some level of imposter syndrome. Everyone does. Because they’re stretching themselves. They’re doing things they’ve never done before. And so that will always bring a little bit of fear. But again, if you accept that imperfection is okay and you accept change, you’re gonna be able to move forward. So here’s my affirmation for accept imperfection.
Marisa Shadrick [00:11:05]:
I care about what I create and will do my best with the knowledge I have today, free from self criticism and unhealthy perfectionism. I embrace mistakes as valuable insights to help me grow and they will remind me to stay humble and teachable. So again, this is aligned with these tips that I’m giving you to give you an example. So the 3 so far, I wanna make sure that you’re tracking with me. First one is embrace reality, and I gave you an example of an affirmation. Number 2 is commit to change, And number 3 is accept imperfection. Number 4 is manage your energy. Now, I have a lot of energy and I’ve always been like a little energizer bunny, but sometimes energy can get you doing multiple things, many things at the same time.
Marisa Shadrick [00:12:06]:
You have to manage the energy that you have and stay focused on the goals that you’ve created for yourself. So you have to understand your energy peaks and lows to optimize productivity for the day. Whether you’re a day person, a night person, or somewhere in between, you understand where those peak periods are where you could be more productive. By the end of the day, I don’t usually will do a lot of creative writing or writing at the end of the day, or try to finish some type of, sales page at the end of the day, because I’m spent. And it will actually take me longer if I try to muscle through and finish it. It might take me 2, 2 and a half hours to finish something that if I was fresh in the morning, I could finish it in 45 minutes. So as I manage my energy, I recognize when my peak times are, and I’ll reserve certain task or project during those peak hours. And that will help you, especially it’s a demanding task.
Marisa Shadrick [00:13:10]:
Do it when you have full energy and that way you can knock it out a lot faster. And learn to say no to tasks that don’t align with your goal, or that drain your energy. Learn to say no to tasks that don’t align with your goal, or drain your energy. And oftentimes for myself, I can say no to other people, maybe other opportunities that aren’t in alignment, but it’s really hard for me to say no to me. And so, sometimes we have to say no to ourselves. Do we need to actually jump on that webinar right now? Do we need to create this new product when we haven’t finished completing maybe a course for another product. And typically, we want to make sure that everything connects. So if you’re gonna sell something, and it doesn’t have to be a huge launch.
Marisa Shadrick [00:14:04]:
If you’re gonna sell something, you’re become very clear about what that is, and then everything else that you do. The newsletters, the email sequences, the posting, everything should align with that theme of what you’re trying to accomplish for that quarter or that month, whatever it may be. So the problem is we get too busy with too many things and we dilute the productivity, and we start working on this and working on that or wanting this or someone had this great idea or somebody accomplished this and now we wanna do it too, and we get distracted. So here’s my affirmation for managing energy. I will prioritize rest to nurture my mind, body, and spirit. I will structure my days to leverage my energy peaks and minimize unnecessary interruptions. I will extend grace to myself and remain flexible when I miss the mark or when unexpected events arise, knowing that these moments are temporary. So, if for some reason you get off track, it’s only temporary.
Marisa Shadrick [00:15:15]:
Your regular rhythm is going to continue. You didn’t damage the rhythm. You just had one oops, one day or one afternoon. That’s okay. The next day you can continue. It is not the status quo. It is the exception. The 5th and final is focus, focus, focus, and flourish.
Marisa Shadrick [00:15:38]:
So what do I mean by this? Choose one achievement goal at a time and track your progress. And again, figure out what is this going to provide for me or do for me. I picked this goal. I’ve broken up my day. I’ve figured out when I’m going to be able to do this particular project. I like to take my calendar at the beginning of the month and block out days where I have half days or full days that I don’t have client calls, and I highlight them because those are the days I can do deep work. And so figure out your plan on how are you going to get this done and by when and how much time you’re gonna be able to devote to it, so you can get it done. So, choose one goal because if you have too many, it’s too hard again.
Marisa Shadrick [00:16:26]:
So, for example, if you want to update your website, how many tabs do you have? How many pages does that include? Figure it out. Count them. How many pages are we talking about? The home page? The about page? Do you have product page? Do you have a contact page? How many pages? So that you can figure out how much time it’s gonna take you, and you can have a realistic goal as far as when you’re gonna do it. And then the focus work will allow you to execute efficiently without feeling overwhelmed. Now that you’ve prioritized and these other things are tabled for later, you won’t feel overwhelmed. Every week, you can identify the task and projects that do or do not contribute to that main goal that you’re trying to accomplish. Because things will come at you through email and other things. You have to assess and figure out, does this align with my goal right now or not? Or does If this aligns with my goal, then I need to somehow work this in.
Marisa Shadrick [00:17:29]:
If it doesn’t, I need to table it and write it down somewhere, so I’ll remember. So here’s my affirmation for focus and flourish. I will be intentional about setting weekly goals and managing my energy efficiently. Without judgment, I will track my progress and make adjustments as needed. I will celebrate small wins and review my progress each week to stay motivated. With God’s help, I will reach my goals and thrive. Now, the reason why I wrote in there review my progress without judgment, is sometimes our progress isn’t what we want to see, but that’s okay with no judgment. If you say, I wanna write 30 minutes a day and you only wrote 10 minutes, that’s okay.
Marisa Shadrick [00:18:19]:
If you say, I wanna reach out to people and and make create more 1 on 1 calls, and I wanna reach out to 5 people a day, and you find that 5 is too many, maybe you need to scale it back and reach out to 1 person. One person a day is 30 people a month. That could be a good starting point for you if you’re that busy. It’s much easier to reach out and have an authentic connection with 1 person then try to systematize it and connect to 3 to 5 if you don’t have a lot of time. So let me go over the 5 in reveal. So again, this is how to avoid burnout and grow your online business. It’s number 1, embrace reality. Figure out where you’re at right now.
Marisa Shadrick [00:19:07]:
2, commit or recommit to change. Number 3, accept imperfection. No comparison traps here. Number 4 is manage your energy. And number 5 is focus and flourish. I hope that has helped you today. I know when I started writing these affirmations, I really enjoyed it once I understood how it worked. I’m a late bloomer.
Marisa Shadrick [00:19:36]:
What can I say? But you might wanna do that for whatever goals you’re setting, or maybe maybe it’s self criticism. Maybe you need affirmations just to build up your confidence, because you’re an amazing person. And so if you haven’t heard it lately, hopefully you’re in a community. I know in our community, our mastermind, we do, spotlights, but we also do reverse spotlights where we speak into the life of a person and they will turn off their camera and we just share all the value, the insights. We share all about them, what we see in them, and the potential that we see in them, and the gifts that they have, how they’ve blessed us. We share all this because sometimes we’re so blind to the gifts and the abilities and the experiences and the things that God has given us. And sometimes we need an outside voice to remind us of those things that are already within us. So even if you’re not in a mastermind group, you can get with some friends and do this, or get with your spouse, or maybe a girlfriend, or a colleague, and say, you know, I really need to kind of see what I can’t see for myself, and do that.
Marisa Shadrick [00:20:52]:
And maybe from that, create affirmations to build your confidence so that you can take that next step and have that energy and momentum to be able to grow or scale your business. Alrighty. Well, I hope that was helpful. Remember, I would love to see a 5 star review so I can continue to produce this podcast and influence and have impact. That would be wonderful. I would love that. And if you’re someone that really understands this topic, I’m kind of interested to connect with you. Let me know because I’m kind of fascinated by all of this.
Marisa Shadrick [00:21:27]:
I’ve always followed Caroline Leaf and I’ve been really diving into some Michael Hyatt content and it’s all making sense and connecting the dots, but it would be lovely to be able to talk to someone who’s an expert in this area. So, until next time, thank you so much for tuning in, and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye bye
