Latest / Smart Business Growth with Nicky Miklós / Unlocking Productivity: The Power of Taking a Pause in Business

Transcript

Unlocking Productivity: The Power of Taking a Pause in Business · Smart Business Growth with Nicky Miklós

• 0:04
  Nicky: Welcome to Thrive in Business Together with Nikki and Ness.
• 0:11
  Ness: We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country, the Yagura and Wurundjeri people of Brisbane and Melbourne respectively, where Nikki and I both work and live.
• 0:26
  Nicky: Hello, beautiful listeners, we hope that you are having a gorgeous day today.
• 0:31
  Nicky: Ness and I are going to talk to you today about something that has really hit home on a personal level for us, particularly in the last couple of months.
• 0:41
  Nicky: It does tend to be a pattern that we have identified in our own careers as corporate leaders, as business owners, that we see in the women and the people around us as well, but it's a pattern that keeps popping up its little head and it's very, very relevant to breaking the hustle culture.
• 0:59
  Nicky: We talk about breaking the cycles that hold us back and you may remember and if you haven't listened to this podcast episode, go back and listen to it all around the elements of it's not just about what we're doing, it's about who we're being, and I think the conversation we're having today is really, really connected with that.
• 1:16
  Nicky: But on a very practical level, we want to talk to you today about why it is so important and look, this is going to sound obvious to stick with us, why it is so important to step back in business, take the time to reset for the business, but also personally, and I'm actually just going to hand straight over to Ness to share, because there really has been some big insights, learns, realization, painful moments, all of those aspects in the last couple of months that Ness and I, but particularly Ness, has experienced.
• 1:50
  Nicky: So I'm going to hand over to you, lovely woman, hello and Hello everyone.
• 1:53
  Nicky: Thanks, I feel like I'm interviewing you.
• 1:56
  Ness: It does feel a little bit like that vibe, doesn't it?
• 1:58
  Ness: Thank you so much, and I agree this is such an important topic and it's great to be able to bring to this conversation quite deep personal insights that have occurred to me that hadn't up until now and we often talk about.
• 2:12
  Ness: Well, we bang on all the time about how to thrive in business without the burnout and we really are conscious and intentional about the way that we've created our business so that we get time away.
• 2:23
  Ness: That we don't.
• 2:24
  Ness: We have strong boundaries around, weekends off, we don't work nights, all of all of those things.
• 2:29
  Ness: So I feel like we strive for it.
• 2:31
  Ness: And yet it wasn't until in May, when I took a holiday, that I really got that lesson around how burnout is not necessarily just a physical burnout, which some people could relate to.
• 2:44
  Ness: I remember someone one of the leaders I was coaching a while back said to me that it wasn't until she got on her holiday and slept for 48 hours straight that she realized that she was burnout.
• 2:55
  Ness: So that didn't happen to me, but I did accept and acknowledge that by the time I was ready to go on a holiday back in May, I think I was mentally burnt out and I'm curious to know, you know from our listeners out there do you relate to this where pre COVID was my last holiday?
• 3:13
  Ness: It was amazing.
• 3:14
  Ness: It was a yoga retreat which I thought I'd never go on but I did and it was so relaxing and amazing and awesome.
• 3:21
  Ness: And it was in Bali and the plane got delayed and I had to have an extra day of massages.
• 3:25
  Ness: It was fantastic.
• 3:26
  Ness: But then COVID hit right.
• 3:28
  Ness: So not in any of us went anywhere much in COVID and even since then it's this thinking that we've started a new business a couple of years ago.
• 3:38
  Ness: We've got to get the business off the ground.
• 3:39
  Ness: You know, maybe I was saving for my overseas trip, so the money I didn't kind of consider spending money on a holiday and I guess my previous mindset was a holiday means you've got to get on a plane or jump in a car and go somewhere for a period of time and because of that, we're now in 2023.
• 3:58
  Ness: And let's do the maths on that.
• 4:00
  Ness: That's a long time to go in between having a break.
• 4:03
  Ness: Yes, I've had time off over Christmas, but I moved house, so we will cancel out any kind of relaxation and switch off from that period of three or four weeks.
• 4:11
  Ness: So I guess what I'm saying here is that there were a lot of shoulds in my mindset around what a holiday looks like and taking time out of the business.
• 4:22
  Ness: As we're starting up, you know, I should really be in the business so that we are continuing to grow as we need to.
• 4:28
  Ness: I should really be saving money.
• 4:30
  Ness: So, therefore, what's the point in taking time?
• 4:33
  Ness: I can't go anywhere, and it wasn't until I stepped away and had a good I was probably about three weeks all up to two and a half to three weeks had the most amazing holiday, switched off, had fun, got away, just completely out, you know, in another country, but also completely out of this work mindset and the realisation that I really, really needed it.
• 4:55
  Ness: And I hear business owners say this they go and they take their laptop.
• 5:00
  Ness: You know if you're the business owner, you've got to answer the emails or that you're still needed for some sort of crisis management, and I didn't have any of that.
• 5:08
  Ness: I just walked away, and I think that it is so, so, so important that we question our beliefs around time away, around holidays, around when we deserve one or not, and you're such a great role model, this Nikki, of taking short breaks and taking time out of the business, and I think, even though I observed that my belief system held me back from being able to do the little mini breaks.
• 5:37
  Ness: So I'm curious to know from your perspective, what is it that motivates you to continually have those sort of short break holidays and they are.
• 5:46
  Ness: You really do get away and you switch off for those.
• 5:49
  Ness: So how is your mindset different to mine?
• 5:53
  Nicky: I love gosh.
• 5:54
  Nicky: This is such an important conversation and I'm also very happy to be having it and I'm very happy to see I feel like almost your mindset has caught up with where mine is a little bit, because even over the last couple of years, absolutely that is a real priority for me and there's a couple of things actually that even come up around that.
• 6:11
  Nicky: So, to answer your question, why do I have such good boundaries about this?
• 6:16
  Nicky: Because I've been burnt out before.
• 6:17
  Nicky: I think that's as simple as it is and it has.
• 6:21
  Nicky: It is.
• 6:21
  Nicky: So I want to say I was going to say top of mind, I guess it is.
• 6:25
  Nicky: It's always there and I know people who have experience and we're quite uniqueness because we have different experiences in this way.
• 6:32
  Nicky: You've not experienced burnout in hitting that burnout physical wall in the past and what I know is for those of us who have, there's this almost constant fear, if we let it be, that that will end up back there.
• 6:44
  Nicky: And for me, I've been on a mission since I think it was 2009.
• 6:48
  Nicky: No, it was 2012 that I actually had proper burnout end of 2012 and couldn't work for a couple of months, and I've been on that mission of understanding and sometimes I'm awesome about it, understanding what those boundaries are.
• 7:00
  Nicky: Sometimes I'm amazing at it, sometimes I totally suck at it and I'm like why?
• 7:05
  Nicky: But one of the things that I learned is absolutely the importance of switching off, and I think what we've uncovered, even over just the duration of this podcast, is this conversation around the different types of burnout.
• 7:18
  Nicky: So, whilst we were talking, even before we clicked record, it wasn't necessarily physical burnout that you had, and you shared that at the beginning of this episode, and we will delve into a little bit more around.
• 7:29
  Nicky: Well, what does it look like if it's not physical burnout?
• 7:31
  Nicky: But when we've experienced something like this, like you had to go through this to now go?
• 7:37
  Nicky: You came back from holidays and was like, right, I've got to do things differently.
• 7:40
  Nicky: And in my mind I'm like hallelujah, yes, here we are.
• 7:43
  Nicky: Because, also, what came up for me over the last couple of years?
• 7:46
  Nicky: I'm good at setting those boundaries.
• 7:47
  Nicky: I do have mini breaks.
• 7:48
  Nicky: I tell you right now, everybody, when I'm on holidays, I'm on holidays.
• 7:51
  Nicky: I do not take my laptop.
• 7:53
  Nicky: If there's a need, there might be a strict boundary around.
• 7:56
  Nicky: You know, ness and I had holidays at the same time.
• 7:59
  Nicky: Maybe I'll check the emails once a day and that's it.
• 8:01
  Nicky: We have to switch off.
• 8:03
  Nicky: We have to find ways to delegate to our teams.
• 8:07
  Nicky: Most of our clients are actually happy for us to have holidays and to switch off.
• 8:11
  Nicky: So but what has happened over the last couple of years?
• 8:14
  Nicky: Because I have seen that mindset with you and I've tried to encourage holidays, but, as you said, it's our individual beliefs that might hold us back or help us move forward, but then I had to work through.
• 8:25
  Nicky: We'll see it.
• 8:27
  Nicky: Do I feel guilty about this because I'm having these holidays?
• 8:30
  Nicky: Ness is choosing not to, or working on the holiday or the holiday.
• 8:35
  Nicky: Why don't I just say your move wasn't just an average move down the street, it was also packing up a house after 20 years from regional Victoria moving to Melbourne.
• 8:44
  Nicky: That's a good four, five hour drive, 20 years in one place, like it was epic, emotionally, physically, all of that.
• 8:51
  Nicky: There's so much in what was just said then as well around for those of you that are listening.
• 8:55
  Nicky: Yes, you might not have a business partner, but do you feel guilty because you're team?
• 8:59
  Nicky: I can't have time off because my team aren't, or what will they think?
• 9:03
  Nicky: But the thing is you're leading by example and even in those times, that was mindset that I had to work on, to stick with those boundaries because I'd learned the lesson from my past.
• 9:12
  Nicky: To then go.
• 9:13
  Nicky: That's OK.
• 9:13
  Nicky: This is what's right for me, and also if you're leading by example when you do that so long-winded answer, ness.
• 9:23
  Nicky: Hopefully that was valuable to yourself, but also to the listeners, and I want to go down this path.
• 9:28
  Nicky: Of what I've experienced in the past was physical burnout and probably well definitely mental burnout aligned with that, but for you it was different.
• 9:37
  Nicky: So let's unpack that a little bit.
• 9:40
  Nicky: Because you were tied, you were definitely tired, but I don't know.
• 9:43
  Nicky: Was it physical burnout?
• 9:45
  Nicky: We often talk about emotional, spiritual, mindset or mental and physical burnout, and that's just what we've experienced, observed and seen.
• 9:53
  Nicky: Let's unpack that a little bit.
• 9:55
  Ness: What would?
• 9:55
  Nicky: that like for you and what do you resonate with there?
• 9:58
  Ness: It's interesting.
• 9:58
  Ness: I was talking to another coach that we both know and I was saying around I know this is in the coaching space only, but listeners might resonate with this that there's this theory and concept, and I believe it's true that our mindset is definitely determining how we show up in business, and if we're not getting the results we want, we need to tap in and check to see what's going on in our mindset.
• 10:22
  Ness: However, I think I just got fatigued to the point where it was like enough already.
• 10:27
  Ness: I don't want to sit here in journal for another day trying to figure out what the block is or whatever.
• 10:33
  Ness: There's a time for that, but there's also time for action, and so for me, I think it was this continual action that was happening, the not self-doubt, but the voice around.
• 10:46
  Ness: Well, what else could I be doing differently?
• 10:48
  Ness: How do I improve just this constant need for improvement?
• 10:53
  Ness: We're in a start-up right.
• 10:54
  Ness: We started this business a couple of years ago.
• 10:56
  Ness: It's a completely different world from working on our own in our previous businesses, and I think, because of the lack of break, it wasn't until I went away that I realized that there was a level of resentment that was sort of being built up around having to turn up every day and I moved house twice, so the second time there was a lot going on in my life and life admin that needed to happen around the move and I was either feeling guilty for spending time doing that because I was working at the same time or I was guilty around not being able to give enough at work and all the cues and signs were there.
• 11:34
  Ness: But it all built into this place where I think I was just.
• 11:38
  Ness: I just don't know that I have the energy not physical energy, but probably mental energy to continue to go at this pace.
• 11:46
  Ness: It's time and to walk away and just completely have that break.
• 11:51
  Ness: And I think in retrospect the signs were there over the last six months of having had some personal stuff going on.
• 11:59
  Ness: You know, like we refer to the move, all of that.
• 12:02
  Ness: I mean that's one of the top three things.
• 12:04
  Ness: It's like death, divorce, most stressful things, yep.
• 12:09
  Ness: So to throw that in on top of some study, like there was a lot going on and what I wasn't respecting was my need to be able to switch off, because you know, weekends when you're doing lots of those kinds of other things in your world and you're still everyone around you need you.
• 12:23
  Ness: There's not that opportunity to be able to have that complete switch off which is so necessary.
• 12:29
  Ness: And when I say switch off, it wasn't like I was lying on a beach doing nothing.
• 12:32
  Ness: It was fun and jam packed with, you know, activities and adventure, and it was just something completely different to what my world looks like.
• 12:40
  Ness: That's for me, you know, being away from great friends, going to New York and just like immersing in the culture there and doing lots of stuff.
• 12:49
  Ness: So I think it was.
• 12:50
  Nicky: Let's get a quick question on that.
• 12:51
  Nicky: Here you go, I'm going to just jump in there because, also, I think what's important, I'd love to know if so, if you could do your time again over the last two years around that, because that holiday sounds amazing.
• 13:01
  Nicky: It was New York, everybody.
• 13:02
  Nicky: I mean it was so good, it was like Sex in the City version.
• 13:05
  Nicky: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 13:07
  Nicky: But the whole, the whole precipice of this is that that's not always available to us.
• 13:11
  Nicky: So what would you have done differently in the last two years?
• 13:15
  Nicky: Because that holiday still would have happened and been just as awesome.
• 13:18
  Nicky: What would you have done differently?
• 13:20
  Ness: It was interesting because that's what I've done since I've got back is I came back and my first day back I booked my next lot of holidays a week off in September, which is only like a few months away, and and in my mind it was I don't have to go somewhere necessarily, even just having a week at home where I can be a tourist in my own city or I can read a book or I can just relax and catch up with friends for coffee or lunch or go and see my mum.
• 13:45
  Ness: It's that to me it's not holiday.
• 13:48
  Ness: I guess holiday the definition in my head is like I said you get on playing, you go somewhere or you drive somewhere and you stay somewhere else, but you can have a holiday at home and it's just that matter of being able to switch off and get away from work and just have that capacity to not be constantly thinking about what's going on.
• 14:05
  Ness: And as a business owner, we do that.
• 14:07
  Ness: We don't tend to switch off.
• 14:08
  Ness: It's not nine to five.
• 14:09
  Ness: So you know, I do have the luxury, nikki, of having a business partner and you as my business partner, but I love what you said.
• 14:16
  Ness: We've got to challenge ourselves to think that what's the support systems around us that allow us to do this.
• 14:22
  Ness: When I was working on my own in my business, you know, I just told my clients I just booked, you know, the work either side of the break that I was having, and they knew I was off-loan for 10 days or whatever and I did everything I needed to do and you know, that was it.
• 14:37
  Ness: It's not unachievable, but I think I guess the point I'm trying to make that I really want people to listen to and challenge for themselves, is what is your belief around it?
• 14:49
  Ness: If you're making up all the list of things that need to happen for you to go on a holiday and you decide that you can't achieve that, then we've got to really start to challenge that.
• 14:59
  Ness: So for me it was I shouldn't be taking time off because we're growing the business.
• 15:03
  Ness: I shouldn't be taking time off because I can't afford to go on a mini break.
• 15:06
  Ness: I shouldn't be taking time.
• 15:07
  Ness: You know, like the reasons are there and now, differently, what I will do is plan every quarter to have that week off.
• 15:17
  Ness: You know, when I worked in corporate, we had to take our four weeks of annual leave every year because they didn't want us to bank it.
• 15:22
  Ness: So it's that mindset around making sure that that still happens.
• 15:27
  Ness: And I know so many business owners who might go on a holiday every couple of years but don't have that mentality of let's go for the four weeks a year and how you're going to plan that and make that happen.
• 15:37
  Ness: So I think that's the key takeaway to actually schedule it and then work out what you're going to do in that time.
• 15:45
  Ness: Because I think the key here is switching off.
• 15:47
  Ness: Yeah, no matter what you are, it's not turning the computer on every day, not being there to serve your clients, not being there to answer emails.
• 15:54
  Ness: It's switching off and being, like you said earlier in the being part.
• 15:59
  Ness: It's being present and reconnecting to yourself and reconnecting to those closest to you.
• 16:05
  Nicky: Yeah, and switching off doesn't mean have to mean switching off from the world, so it can still be doing stuff.
• 16:10
  Nicky: But that's the key there, where you set around switching off from the business, from being needed, from whatever that giving aspect.
• 16:17
  Nicky: And there's a reason that corporate, when we worked in corporate or we had a day job, we did have the four weeks.
• 16:23
  Nicky: And, yes, from a financial point of view, the business is going to not want us to bank it.
• 16:27
  Nicky: But let's also look at the other point of view.
• 16:29
  Nicky: I've been banging on about this for years.
• 16:31
  Nicky: In corporate and businesses, the benefit of taking those four weeks a year is that we are absolutely focusing on our health and well-being.
• 16:39
  Nicky: So we're not saving all of those holidays for one huge I mean great long service.
• 16:44
  Nicky: Believe in all of that.
• 16:45
  Nicky: But we have to take consistent rests.
• 16:48
  Nicky: We have to take consistent break.
• 16:51
  Nicky: We've talked about this a lot from a micro point of view, earthing micro moments.
• 16:55
  Nicky: This is the same thing, but on a bigger scale, and when you do this, you're able to actually enjoy the time you have off and not sleep for 48 hours.
• 17:03
  Nicky: That's what the client was talking about.
• 17:05
  Nicky: Are you stuck in the busy trap or on Juggle Street, being all things to all people, despite having a team, or perhaps your business is feeling chaotic?
• 17:21
  Nicky: Do the mini-business health check to get 10 strategies in under 10 minutes so you can get time freedom back, experience peak performance and finally leverage smart growth in your business.
• 17:33
  Nicky: Head over to b2businesstogethercomau.
• 17:36
  Nicky: Forward slash health check and, if you're ready for us to help in a more hands on way, I think the other thing here is that sometimes we can't see this for ourselves.
• 17:45
  Ness: So I really like that question that.
• 17:47
  Nicky: I think the question is not for the listeners, for self-reflecting.
• 17:50
  Nicky: It's not even necessarily how do I feel, because sometimes we feel, we think we feel okay, but then when we stop we realize, whoa, okay, I was deep in it.
• 17:59
  Nicky: But your question around what is my belief around this?
• 18:03
  Nicky: That's how you're going to know if you're listening, if you're potentially playing out some unresourceful behaviors.
• 18:09
  Nicky: Because even if we rewind, say four months, my belief is it's a non-negotiable I have to have mini breaks for me to be optimal and showing up at work, whereas Ness's belief, what you shared, was I shouldn't be doing that because, for whatever reason around the business elements or the environment, I shouldn't be doing that.
• 18:27
  Nicky: That's an example of two very different belief systems that would then indicate the behavior following on.
• 18:32
  Nicky: So we're not relying on but I feel okay.
• 18:34
  Nicky: I feel okay to show up to work today, because sometimes we don't actually realize where we are, and the podcast episode with Susan Hunter how do I know if I'm burnt out talks to this as well.
• 18:46
  Nicky: When we're in that space, we don't really know, we're not the best people to determine.
• 18:52
  Ness: I haven't spoken to anyone who has gone through burnout, who hasn't said wasn't until I stopped or my body stopped, that I realized just how burnout I was.
• 19:01
  Ness: I think until you take that time away, you aren't gauging it, because I think Susan talked about this you're at this adrenaline high, that cortisol kind of thing, just sort of like pumping through your system on a regular basis.
• 19:16
  Ness: The active stepping aside and just resting gives us that perspective as well.
• 19:21
  Ness: It's a really good reset for ourselves personally.
• 19:24
  Ness: And then there's, of course, the reset that we do when we come together to step out of the business and work on the business, and I think it's very timely for us to talk about last week being up in beautiful Reese ville in Queensland a gorgeous Airbnb having our reset, our focus, our offsite retreat that we do every six months in our business, because that also is the I guess it's the pulse, isn't it, of the business at that point in time.
• 19:52
  Ness: It's the ability to shift energy and its ability to really reflect on what's working.
• 19:59
  Ness: Well, what do we want to continue to do?
• 20:01
  Ness: What are the things we want to start to do in our business and what are the things we really need to stop, and so not only I was nearly going to say the word should and I'm going to tap myself on that, but it's about looking at these two aspects around stepping back.
• 20:17
  Ness: One is the complete switch off as a human being and just getting out and doing life, but the other aspect of this is the ability to not be in the detail and the weeds of the business all year round and coming away from it so that you can stand on.
• 20:33
  Ness: Some people talk about it it's the balcony.
• 20:34
  Ness: View right, get off the dance floor and up onto the balcony, and so that you've got that ability to refresh yourself, but also to refresh.
• 20:43
  Ness: Where is this business at right now?
• 20:45
  Ness: How am I living a line to the vision that I have for the business and where I want to go?
• 20:50
  Ness: And also, therefore, how does that fit into my personal vision?
• 20:54
  Ness: Am I meeting my target?
• 20:55
  Ness: All the things, all the beautiful things that we do on retreat.
• 20:59
  Ness: So this is something that we started doing together in our previous businesses, having these offsite retreats every six months, and then, of course, we just have always done it since we started business together.
• 21:09
  Ness: So for you, when you consider this stepping back aspect, nick, from us going away last week.
• 21:16
  Ness: What do you think the top two benefits are for a business owner?
• 21:20
  Ness: Your top two to actually take the time out, because I do appreciate and accept that that time together is great because we're bouncing off each other.
• 21:30
  Ness: But we did have the discussion around a solo retreat.
• 21:33
  Ness: Say, you're a solo business owner, how do you still step away but go?
• 21:37
  Ness: Why would I travel all that way to go somewhere To just sit on my own for two days?
• 21:41
  Ness: I could just do it in my office.
• 21:43
  Ness: That would 100% be my mentality in my past life.
• 21:48
  Nicky: Absolutely yes.
• 21:49
  Nicky: Yes, because now that you've experienced it, I also think if you're a solo business owner, you could do a solo retreat or you can do what Ness and I did before we went into business together and find a biz bestie, and I know other business owners that do that and there's benefit in that.
• 22:04
  Nicky: So I love a good top two.
• 22:06
  Nicky: And I would say, when you were talking about the retreat, and we actually block out for almost a week anywhere from three to five days depending it gives you the opportunity to fall back in love with your business.
• 22:21
  Nicky: It gives you the opportunity to get excited about your business again.
• 22:24
  Nicky: So sometimes we can get so drawn into the day to day, which is the dance floor.
• 22:28
  Nicky: We're on the dance floor of our business and that's important because we have to deliver, we have to achieve the goals, strive for the goals that we've set, all of that but sometimes we're so focused on the day to day we forget to look up and realize and remember why we're doing this and getting on that balcony and looking down at the dance floor another analogy around that is getting the helicopter view of your business allows you to really reflect on the past, the present and where you want to go, and for me, one of the big things I get out of that is I get really excited about what we're doing and the bigger picture stuff that we're doing here as well.
• 23:04
  Nicky: And I love my business and you know that and everyone listening knows that.
• 23:08
  Nicky: And even for me, I still fall in love with my business more every time we do this.
• 23:12
  Nicky: So that's one reason.
• 23:13
  Nicky: The other is that it gives us clarity.
• 23:16
  Nicky: The certainty that we can get from clarity is huge.
• 23:19
  Nicky: Business is uncertain.
• 23:21
  Nicky: There's a lot of stuff going on out there at the moment the economic client, the world we don't even need to talk about it.
• 23:27
  Nicky: There's a lot of fear, there's a lot of negative news cycle.
• 23:30
  Nicky: So one of the ways that we can get certainty and fulfill our core need of certainty in our business is through clarity.
• 23:37
  Nicky: You know, ness and I now have such a specific plan in all the key areas of our business for the next six months and beyond, and so there's certainty around that.
• 23:46
  Nicky: And if there's a little wobble, which we all experience Because the other thing about this is that this is what Ness and I do for a living we help business owners thrive without the burnout, we help teams thrive without the burnout and break cycles, and we're still going through it ourselves.
• 24:01
  Nicky: We're still learning, so nobody gets away with not having these experiences.
• 24:05
  Nicky: It's what we do with those experiences that really matter, and so fulfilling that core need of certainty.
• 24:12
  Nicky: When we have a little wobble, then it's like hang on a second.
• 24:15
  Nicky: I'll go back to my plan.
• 24:16
  Nicky: Our strategy is in place.
• 24:18
  Nicky: So I think they're probably the two key things For me.
• 24:21
  Nicky: What about?
• 24:21
  Ness: for you, ness Ness, it's everything you said and it is also that ability to be able to have uninterrupted time so that we can.
• 24:34
  Ness: You know, like the productivity level was like we smashed that out of the park because we were uninterrupted by anything.
• 24:42
  Ness: You know there was no, no client work obviously booked in and people knew that we were away, and there was just that ability to get really clear and really focused, be healthy.
• 24:53
  Ness: We decided to do no alcohol at this one, which was a very good move because our minds were clearer, we slept well, we ate well, and so, in that when you're in your peak, then you deliver your best, and staying somewhere like we'd love to go to a beautiful environment because what we know is how you feel energetically will impact, you know, the quality of brain capacity, I guess, quality of creativity, quality of ideas.
• 25:24
  Ness: So I think that it's really important to also be mindful of where you choose to be, and you know in the past for me where we have done any sort of hybrid because we can travel.
• 25:36
  Ness: Doing it from home is not the best place to be for me because there's too many distractions.
• 25:42
  Ness: So if you are able even just to get away for a weekend or not a weekend, get away for a weekend and then tack on some time at the end for business planning just a different environment.
• 25:53
  Ness: I think that that's really important and it really does impact and create impact on your creativity levels.
• 26:00
  Ness: That's probably what I'd add.
• 26:02
  Nicky: I love it.
• 26:02
  Nicky: Okay, so really for you to sum this up, I, like I'm a note taker.
• 26:07
  Nicky: I take notes all the time if you're watching on the YouTube, on the YouTube oh my gosh, on your grandma.
• 26:12
  Nicky: I was going to say on the YouTube channel but then I'm so excited.
• 26:17
  Nicky: I forgot the last word.
• 26:18
  Nicky: I am not showing my age right now.
• 26:21
  Nicky: Actually, what this is space?
• 26:23
  Nicky: So, when you were talking about that, it's the space of the energetic space to be thinking and getting creative and the physical space to inspire creativity.
• 26:32
  Nicky: Space, clarity and excitement.
• 26:34
  Nicky: And, in fact, when we take time out of our business completely to live life which, if you've listened to the conversation that we've done with Cindy Kennedy, go back and listen to that we talked about when we are at the school pickup for kids or having an amazing holiday and switching off from work, we're actually achieving our business goals.
• 26:54
  Nicky: That means we're achieving our business goals.
• 26:56
  Nicky: So, actually, when we take time out for personal or we take time out to get on the balcony of business, it does the same thing for us.
• 27:04
  Nicky: It gives us space, it gives us clarity and it helps us fall back in love with our business.
• 27:09
  Nicky: Because, ness, I tell you what you were so damn excited to get back into it when you came back from your holiday.
• 27:13
  Nicky: And so the action that we want to give you to take, because really this comes down to two key things to make sure that you're creating the space, you're getting the clarity and you're falling in love with your business.
• 27:25
  Nicky: There's the mindset piece understanding your belief.
• 27:27
  Nicky: What is it?
• 27:28
  Nicky: What is your belief around this?
• 27:29
  Nicky: Is it holding you back or is it helping you move forward?
• 27:32
  Nicky: And the structure, like we talked about.
• 27:34
  Nicky: We're forced to have holidays, which is not a bad thing.
• 27:37
  Nicky: If we were in a day job.
• 27:38
  Nicky: What if you took that approach for yourself?
• 27:40
  Nicky: So, ness, with that in mind the mindset and the structure what's an action that people can take, our beautiful listeners can take from here?
• 27:48
  Ness: I would encourage our listeners to go straight to your calendar, your diary, and book the time out, book your leave, book some sort of retreat somewhere into the future.
• 28:00
  Ness: So you've got those two things in your calendar.
• 28:02
  Ness: And whilst you are doing that activity, I can assure you if you've got any kind of little funky beliefs in your head, they will come to the forefront and you will come up with all these reasons or excuses why you can't, and that go deeper on.
• 28:16
  Ness: So it's an activity, one activity.
• 28:19
  Ness: Put all the dates in your calendar, but the fallout from that one activity will be.
• 28:24
  Ness: It will identify your belief system.
• 28:27
  Nicky: I love that such a good, powerful and important conversation to have.
• 28:32
  Nicky: But thank you for joining us we can't wait to be with you for the next episode.
• 28:36
  Nicky: See you soon.
• 28:37
  Nicky: Thanks for listening to today's app.
• 28:45
  Nicky: If you've loved what you heard, find us on LinkedIn and let us know what you enjoyed.
• 28:49
  Nicky: Also, don't forget to rate and review and, of course, share this episode with your biz besties.
• 28:55
  Nicky: Ness and I are obsessed with helping you break through your business and life barriers to get you to your next frontier of growth.
• 29:05
  Nicky: We bring two business minds and two perspectives into your business.
• 29:09
  Nicky: As the magician, I help connect the dots, see the possibilities and the hidden potential, and as the architect, ness turns those possibilities into practice, implementing plans and frameworks.
• 29:22
  Nicky: Because, let's face it, every vision needs a practical pathway to success.
• 29:27
  Nicky: We offer business health checks, taking you from chaos to clarity in just 30 days.
• 29:33
  Nicky: Are you curious to find out more?
• 29:35
  Nicky: Send us an email or go old school and give us a call.
• 29:38
  Nicky: All our details are in the show notes and on our website.
• 29:42
  Nicky: Until next time, happy listening and cheers to thriving in business and life.