The Excited Or Late Test for Stressed Entrepreneurs
If you run your own company, but have no kids, you still have a baby — your business
If you’re an entrepreneur and have one or more kids, then guess what? Your business is another bundle of joy.
When we run a business — and especially when we really love what we do — it’s common to feel a sense of detachment when we’re away from our desk, or wherever we work our magic.
If you’re watching TV, for example, you can easily guilt yourself into thinking that — despite trusting your “health gut” that you need some down time right now — you could and should be doing more to bring in the most revenue today as possible. And if you’re feeling this while in a position of failing to hit your revenue goal for the current and/or recent quarters, your sense of guilt can compound to an almost unbearable level.
If you feel this way, here’s an acronym to consider: EOL
I came up with this to help manage my related stress that rears at times. It stands for Excited Or Late.
If it’s easier for you to remember this question by switching the word order so that it’s LOE (Late Or Excited), that’s great. I put “Excited” first as a reminder to myself that, most often statistically, something that comes to mind when I’m trying to relax falls under that category.
Examples of things for my marketing business that seem Late on first thought, that I was actually just Excited about:
Updates to website product and service pages based on marketplace feedback. Will my market be better served by products and services that are more closely aligned to their needs? Yes. But are my leads banging down my door demanding that I make the associated informational updates before they give me another look? No. Therefore, I’m just excited, and when I’m able to make the related updates, it will be an especially great day for my company.
Catching up on a backlog of personal outreach messages to attendees I met at recent networking events. For this periodic task, I really need to remind myself that I have no boss looking over my shoulder to ensure I check it off my list asap. (Isn’t it crazy how emotional memory of pressure from past supervisors can linger, even years after a job has ended?) I also find it helpful to note the current day of the week when I feel this particular task-based guilt. For example, it’s Saturday as I write this while I have a current applicable messages backlog — but most of my leads are not going to be in a headspace to consider my request to talk further until Tuesday at the earliest (with Monday often being a catch-up day).
A LinkedIn and/or other social media post idea. If it’s been a day or more since I last posted, I can guilt myself into thinking I need to post my new idea asap “for the algorithm.” In reality, as I learned from a presentation at a recent virtual networking event, only a tiny, tiny fraction of LinkedIn users (for example) post anywhere close to daily. So I don’t need to “keep up with the Joneses” on that, except to fulfill a personal, high-bar goal.
Finding and contacting a podcast for a guest spot opportunity. At the start of this year, I wanted to get on a few podcasts by December. Well, now that I reached that goal (one show I recorded has dropped and I have a second show interview scheduled next month), I need to remind myself that anything more aggressive goes way beyond the goal that I not only set for myself, but achieved.
My closing advice to you
If what I’ve described above applies to you, write “EOL?” on a sticky note and place it at the bottom of your computer monitor, near your laptop, or above your desk — somewhere where you will see it every day. That way, whether something pops into your head when you’re working, or is on your mind when coming back to your office after a break, you’ll be reminded to run it through the “Excited Or Late?” filter. From there, you can schedule something that’s due now or actually late on your calendar for today — and schedule further out things you’re excited about, but which can technically be done later.
🍺 Here’s to a healthier work/life balance!
More help
Through networking, I’ve met many great coaches who help their business clients tackle mindset and other related challenges. If you’d like an introduction to one or more coaches in my network, let’s talk.
