I’ve recently come to have a greater appreciation for Batman thanks to this tweet. The reality is that Batman, like any startup business owner, had to build his skills from scratch. What he needed for the first part of his journey wasn’t what he needed for the next part. While “working hard” might be the catchphrase of those startup days, they only lead to burnout and disaster in the sustainability and scale phase of growing your business.
My friend David Lahav is really into meditation. Well “really into” doesn’t really capture it. This guy is planning to become a certified teacher of meditation. Well, what do you think that kind of teaching requires? Total peace and quiet for three months. Which makes sense. But total peace and quiet means TOTAL peace and quiet which means no phones, no internet, nada.
David has been contemplating taking this training for some time now has made the decision to go for it in early 2022. So what is he doing to prepare for this? Frantically hustling and spending more time with his team to make sure they are ready for him to be gone?
Actually, the opposite.
He’s leaning into a personal rule that I consider a simple secret to level up your lifestyle and your business: be less available.
By being less available, you let your team help themselves, instead of letting them come to you with every concern or question.
By being less available, you free yourself up to do the strategic thinking and acting to take your company to the next level.
By being less available, you get to reap a bit of the reward of being a business owner in the first place.
While I’m not prepping to become a meditation instructor (I’m still in like stage 1 of the Headspace exercises!) I do love to get back some of my time and give more trust to my team, and a “dramatic” action I took this year to make that a reality was turning off my Slack notifications.
There’s that bump of feel good chemicals when you deal with a notification that comes up, like checking off an item on a to-do list. But then there’s the constant interruption, and as a business owner you need time to do deep work. I had been a bit too available for my team in the past and it took some getting used to (for all of us!) but after the transition period all of us are functioning better than ever, and I’m in a better position to boost our earnings, and as a consequence, our incomes. Work less, make more!
I’m not saying this secret is easy, but it is simple.
Realize that you are doing nobody any favors by being super available.
- Your employees become dependent, not autonomous.
- Your time is used poorly doing low-level work.
- You are on the road to burnout.
Flip this script and give your team the training and trust they need, then let it fly. Mistakes will happen. Things will break. That’s part of the process. Make the corrections and keep on keeping on.
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
