This week in the The Confident Ladies Club we discussed Life of an Entrepreneur and our topic was "Shifts in relationships". Tuesday I shared two scenarios of when I experienced shifts in relationships throughout my journey and Wednesday I gave some wisdom and insight into what’s worked for me when feeling disconnected from my non-entrepreneurial friends/family.
I spoke about in the wee beginning stages of my biz, feeling very closed off and isolated from friends/family. I was working 9-5, working on my biz 5-11, seeing clients 12 hours Saturdays, and Sunday catching up around the house and getting prepped for the week. This went on for FOUR months. I felt excited about my biz, but miserable I was missing out on so much. I also was finishing up my Post Masters during this time (I know I am a clear type-A!).
Looking back, this worked for me in the beginning. I laid the foundation and got things moving along quickly. However, this wasn’t sustainable. I knew that if I wanted to run a successful biz (not just a biz) I would need to take better care of myself and not let relationships go on hold any longer. I missed my friends, I felt left out, lonely, and like a bad friend.
This is when I evaluated what was going on and decided I needed something to help me get into a groove and get some balance into my life. That’s when I created Weekly Action Planner. It was modified from a DBT Diary Card I had learned about in graduate school and used with my clients. I noticed how monitoring behaviors would keep people accountable, remind them of what’s important, and also show patterns and make it easy to catch triggers to things like burn out or arguments in relationships. Diary Cards always tracked negative behaviors, which knowing me, I’d rather focus on the good. That’s where I modified it and called it an Action Planner.
After using it I began to feel more balance and fulfillment in life. I was remembering all of the things that were the most important to me. I found it made my relationships better. I was investing what I used to invest plus more into the people I cared about. Later on, after finding so much success from tracking these behaviors, I decided to re-name it and call it the Success-Tracker. Can any of you relate? Do you need to start being more mindful of your actions throughout the day? Do you need to take more time to invest in relationships again?
And have you downloaded your Success Tracker yet? If not, sign up in the top right hand corner of this page! Check out my video re-cap of our convo at the Confident Ladies Club this week. And after, grab a notebook and start journaling about what comes up after reading the questions below:
Do you ever feel disconnected to your non-entrepreneurial friends/family, like you don’t have anything to talk about at times?
Have you realized through growing your biz that there are relationships that are no longer aligned with your values?
How can you get the spark back in friendships when you feel distant?
Shoot me an email and let me know if it was helpful and if you have experienced any recent shifts in relationships.
Have a happy & healthy day!
XO Kate