184: 🚂 Train Tracks vs. Tightrope 🩰

This episode is brought to you by Nespresso Gift Magical Mornings with Nespresso Vertuo Pop Compact and stylish, Vertuo Pop is made to meet every morning coffee craving, from espresso to coffee, hot or iced at the click of a button. And celebrate the season with Nespresso's limited edition coffee flavors sweet almond and hibiscus, cinnamon and candied tamarind and festive double espresso. Magic in the making Shop the Holiday.

Gift collection exclusively@nespresso.com sometimes free time creating Buffer Creating margin enables you to operate on train tracks. It enables moments that you can't plan for. You can even think of train tracks as having parallel or redundant processes running parallel or diverse streams of income so that if one area slows down, there's another one there for backup.

This is your time. How can we earn twice as much in half the time with joy and ease while serving the highest good? That is our guiding question here at the Freetime Cafe, your home for heart based business. I'm your host Jenny Blake. Join me for conversations with authors, friends and fellow business owners as we explore ways to free your mind, time and team to do your best work. Now onto today's show.

Welcome back Free Timers Jenny here. Before we dive in to today's solo episode, I want to give a very special shout out and thank you to Nevins from Denmark who gave Freetime five stars, saying this is my favorite podcast, hands down the best podcast on work, business and so much more. There is Nevins. Thank you. It is the highest honor and the most meaningful metric to know that free time makes it to the very top of your favorite podcast lists. If you're listening and you enjoy the show, it would be amazing if you could share it with at least one friend this week. Now let's get into it.

In episode 176 I asked what is the chocolate chip banana bread in your business? I shared how I like to create these delightful book packages, especially when I'm sending them to people that I know well. One day I was not experiencing so much delight in the process. I had so many books that I wanted to sign and write notes for and mail that I packed a rolling suitcase, my carry on travel luggage full of these boxes. For every single box I wanted to sign and inscribe something personal inside the front cover. I also write a handwritten note that I paperclip to the top and then I have to go through punching all the buttons on the USPS machines of how to get this book where it needs to go. I had this suitcase full of at least 10, if not 15 of these packages. And I was sweating. I'm starting to be there for now over one hour, surpassing two hours. And I was starting to build a little bit of resentment at how much time it was taking. I was kind of tsking myself, saying, what are you doing here, Jenny? Like, you shouldn't be the one at the post office. You should hire a TaskRabbit for this. This is just poor planning and such a poor use of your time because, you know, I left my desk in the middle of the day. I try to always do errands like this, especially if it's at the post office when everybody else is working. So I'll actually travel to a different part of town than the one I live in. And I'll do it in the middle of the day, not during a lunch break, but also not in the morning and not at the end of the day so that I could have these machines to myself. And so here I am in the middle of the day thinking, there's probably so many more higher value things I could be doing with my time. What about my 10k tasks, let alone a hundred k tasks? This is literally a $10 per box task that I'm doing by standing here, filling out all the digital information. It's a little bit arduous and getting these packages ready to go out, not to mention the one or two that have to go internationally, which requires filling out the carbon copy form, standing in line, getting this recipient's information that I probably don't have, like their phone number. I was just feeling a little bit tired, shall we say, in this moment of doing this kind of admin. At the end of all this, I'm finally reaching the end of my book mailing Mount Everest. I had one copy left. And I was thinking, that's so weird. How did I misjudge that? Did I get one wrong? Am I missing a recipient? I don't think so. And I had been standing in line inside to mail the two that were going internationally, thinking, this is just so weird that I have one copy left. This is kind of funny. I put it in my rolling suitcase. It's now the only thing in there. And as I'm walking out the post office, tsking myself, saying, I should never do this again, somebody walked through those doors that made my heart leap out of my chest with joy. It was truly as if time slowed. And I heard a chorus of angels singing in my mind, I swear, because in walks my favorite peloton yoga instructor, the one whose classes I took every single day during the pandemic and every single day while writing free time. I was probably spending at least 30 minutes a day with Krista McGee doing yoga or meditation or sometimes both. And her classes got me through such a tricky time. Both 2020 with the pandemic and then 2021. Being so immersed in free time to see her walk through those post office doors, I almost lost my mind. This was more special to me than any kind of celebrity sighting, because seeing celebrities out in the wild is cool. I've lived in la, in New York, you see people every now and then. But seeing Kristin McGee was so special because she had been the one. More than any movie star or TV star or reality show person, Kristen had been the one guiding me every day to do a practice that gives me energy, brings me joy, helps me feel good, helps me unwind from computer time. And so when she walked in the door, of course, my heart starts thumping out of my chest and I go, oh, my goodness, am I gonna say something? I was feeling super shy. But then I remembered, I have one magical extra copy of Free Time in this rolling suitcase. So as she's waiting in line, she had clearly just come from teaching class. Cause she was wearing fabulous, glittering yoga pants. I felt so awkward. I said, kristen. And she turned and I said, by any chance, are you Krista McGee? She said, yes. And I said, you have been such a gift in my life. I take your classes every day. I'm like, I don't know if this happens to you a lot, but I'm completely having a fangirl moment here. And if it's okay, I have one extra copy of my book that you were instrumental in helping me write and publish in 2021. I would love to gift you a copy. So while she was at the counter checking out and and mailing her package, I was able to sign this extra copy to Kristin McGee, thanking her for truly helping me in my life in such an important way and helping this book become a reality. And that's the thing about doing things by the book or following the business best practices. It doesn't always leave room for the messy magic and serendipity. If I had not allowed myself to take time that maybe I shouldn't have been taking to go do what seemed like a mundane task, a routine errand, by mailing these books, I wouldn't have run into her. I wouldn't have been able to thank her in person, sign a copy for her, and have this magical moment in person. And it got me thinking that if and when we are overly rigid about business best practices and following the rules, we might miss the good stuff. It's okay not to delegate 100% of what you should. It's okay to get some fresh air and go run an errand that's so mundane. You can listen to podcasts or music and go out and about and put yourself in the path of pivot and serendipity. As I like to say, the coolest thing about this run in is that now, every now and then when I check out Kristen on Instagram, I'm not on social very often, but I can see a little bright blue book sitting in the background on her bookshelf. And that book is Free Time. And it's just so special and so surreal that the book is now in her home, hopefully reminding her about free time and the ways she can create that in her own life. Who knows if she's even cracked it open? It doesn't matter. The book also represents a person whose life she is changing through her work and by her showing up every day in the ways that she does Speaking of Kristin McGee and her amazing classes, I usually take them through the Peloton app. I do have the bike. I also have the guide. I've kind of gone all in just to make sure that I move a little bit every day. I was taking one of her classes focused on shoulder opening. I'll link to it in the show notes just in case you too are on Peloton. And she mentioned the feet placement for Pyramid pose. Now this is one that's tough on the hamstrings. A lot of us are sitting a lot of the time. If you bike or run, you'll also have tight hamstrings. Pyramid Pose can be really tricky because both of your legs are straight and you're forward folding over your legs in the shape of a pyramid. It's really easy to kind of tilt your hips, by the way. Kind of cheated a little to take the pressure off those hamstrings. But if you really even out your hips and imagine a glass of water or a bowl of soup sitting on atop your tailbone, you really feel it. One of the notes, the guidance that she gives when teaching this pose, is to think about your feet on train tracks rather than a tightrope. So imagine your feet, you don't want them on a tightrope where they're both in the same vertical alignment of heel to toes. You want your feet on train tracks because that will create More stability, more balance. And you know, I love a good metaphor. So I couldn't help but think how this relates to our conception of time and even the ways that we build stability and balance and redundancy in our business. If you try to do this pose where your feet are placed directly in line, as on a tightrope, your body has to work harder to maintain balance because there's less stability in the base. So you have to activate the muscles in your legs and your core and you're kind of wobbly, so you might fall out of the pose, lose your focus, and not get the true benefits of pyramid pose. On the other hand, when your feet are placed more as if on train tracks, they're not in the same vertical plane. Your weight is more evenly distributed, so you do have a more stable, balanced stance. And then you can focus on other aspects of the pose, like engaging your core, opening the chest, evening out your tailbone, like I said, without having to worry about maintaining balance. So think about this as it does relate to your business. There are certain things that you can do to create stability, to create redundancy, to allow you to focus where you want to put your focus and stay there. If you're operating on a tightrope, let's say scheduling too tightly, not being intentional with calendar design. The calendar version of a tightrope is that there's no margin for error. Things are jam packed, your deadlines are super tight. Maybe you've even taken on too many clients. You have so many meetings on any given day, you're on a tightrope, you're teetering on the balance, you're not as stable because everything is so tightly wired that one misstep, one sick day, one unpredictable family emergency and you have no leeway. You fall out of the pose, you fall out of what you're trying to do.

We'll be right back just after this.

Hi, this is Deechen Lackman and I am here to tell you toyotathon is on. So stop by your local Toyota dealer for incredible year end deals on the cars, trucks and SUVs known for their legendary reliability, like the stylish and efficient Camry, the Ready for anything RAV4, or check out a rough and rugged Tacoma or Tundra, all with great financing and lease options available to qualified customers. Visit buyatoyota.com to find out more. Toyota. Let's go. Places.

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today.

Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast.

And breathe. Oh, sorry.

I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste.

Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

1-800-Contacts.

In the example that I started with. I mean, another example of a tightrope would be overly rigid best practices. Like you have to delegate every single thing that another person could do, and you should only be working on the highest value things in the business. Okay, well that creates rigidity. At a certain point, it might take the fun out of doing the work that you actually enjoy. Or like I said, just doing the mundane work of getting out of the house and running an errand like the post office, but then being open to what might happen outside of the house and who I might bump into, or some insight I might have while on the go, not at the computer, not having delegated this to a TaskRabbit or someone who woulda, coulda, shoulda done it instead, you might remember I've talked about more meaningful metrics One of our BFFs, Hillary Sutton, she has a synchronicity metric with her podcast Hustle and Grace. She likes to measure success by how many synchronicities she notices, whether it's something a guest says, a book they recommend, something one of her clients says, and how it all comes back to her in new and interesting ways within that month so you don't have to measure success the same way as everybody else. And sometimes free time Creating buffer Creating margin enables you to operate on train tracks. It enables moments that you can't plan for. You can even think of train tracks as having parallel or redundant processes, running parallel or diverse streams of income, so that if one area slows down, there's another one there for backup. Or an example that I give in the book is redundancy in terms of team support. Maybe you have two admins or virtual assistants just so that if one of them leaves or has to take time away, you're not stuck holding it all on your shoulders for as long as they're out. I've had friends where they said, oh, I am vulnerable or my business is fragile if there's no one else working in it but me. Or even if I only have one VA or project manager rather than two, because as the business adage goes, one is a dangerous number in business. I'll link to the episode with Alan Dibb because he also elaborated on this that anywhere where you have one person, one system, one stream of income, just one way forward, your business is vulnerable. Another form of tightrope walking here might be overly rigid boundaries or even expectations of your team members. Like one wrong move and it's game over. So this could be being hard on yourself. I experience the tightrope a lot when I'm hard on myself or I beat myself up for something or I'm in people pleasing mode and I'm just overly rigid with maybe I said or did the wrong thing or I just didn't live up to some perfect expectation of myself. You hear me talk about my role in podcasting as just persistent awkwardness constantly. That's me on a tightrope. A little bit of having a vision and then knowing how imperfectly I execute it. Every time I record a solo or even a guest interview and the train track version is keep going, keep publishing. In terms of process and production, I have train tracks for this show. Free time. Not only do I have two podcasts that's train tracks, but I also have two formats within both shows. So here on Tuesdays I released a guest conversation and on Fridays a solo episode. Those are train tracks that allow me to have some balance and stability in the type of work I'm doing day to day. The guest episodes and conversations are a really fun way for me to connect with other people, to go outside of myself, to meet new people, make new friends, bring you new and fresh ideas and perspectives. And then on Fridays when I do the solo, that's the other side of the equation that enables me to think critically, examine things, ask questions, try to contribute some kind of unique perspective even on well worn topics. Another version of train tracks in my business, you hear me talk about my two big bases of IP for things like licensing and keynote speaking, Pivot and free time. And I often talk about them as my business skis that I have two skis. I did grow up skiing once a year, not very frequently, but skiing can create balance in a certain way. Of course, if you hit a bump or bogle that's too big, your skis get all crossed up and then it's really more of a disaster, I would say, to fall than if you're on a snowboard. But I'm jumping metaphors here. The point of my two business skis are that having a steady, proven body of work like Pivot, it enables me to continue earning revenue and having those recurring revenue streams in that part of the business while simultaneously Bootstrapping and funding a new direction, that's free time. So in a way, pivot is my more stable side of the train tracks. Free time is the more risk taking. New and different and expansive. They both serve a function in the business. I would definitely be belly up if I were only trying to walk the tightrope of going entirely all in on free time. If I had shut down Pivot coaching, Pivot speaking, Pivot licensing, Pivot podcast, just to go in this new direction, that would be a tightrope and it would be setting me up to fail because it would be too much risk, too much pressure, too much uncertainty, too much unknown, and too much time to build the new direction and get critical momentum. Start that momentum snowball without enough Runway. So if you find yourself on a tightrope, try to see where in your business, where in your revenue streams are you betting big and wanting to take big risks and how can you balance out other areas so that you can move from that tightrope vibe over to the train tracks that are more balanced and stable. Other forms of tightrope walking might be not charging clients enough, could be overly lax boundaries where you're not setting the right parameters. In a way, that's its own form of tightrope walking, because you're constantly trying to meet the needs of other people without meeting the needs of yourself. So it's kind of ironic because on the one hand, tightrope walking is you're being overly rigid and kind of focused and precarious, but then you're allowing other people to be less intentional with how they treat you and how much they're paying you. So just think about that. Pricing really comes into play here because as I say in the book, it's hard to create free time. If your prices are too low, you'll always feel like you're behind. You always feel like you can't keep up. You might not be accounting for time, team and taxes that go into serving the clients that you are. Julia Cameron writes that perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves. The part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough. Another one of the ways that you can create redundancy in your business is to create resilience. In terms of systems are, as I talk about a lot, documenting your processes so that even when you or a team member makes a mistake, it's not a mistake now. It's a learning opportunity. And no mistake should go unleveraged. I know that's very jargony, but really think of any mistake, any missed opportunity, missed deadline, something falling through the cracks. What I call mortifying business moment. They're all a chance to make your systems and your documentation smarter. So if somebody on your team forgets something altogether or delivers something that isn't what you were expecting, have a conversation about it. Say, great. This just highlighted the need for us to create an even smarter system around this. So how can you share not just the steps in a process, but the logic behind it? Why do you have the process this way? I explained to you via Kristen's yoga class why we put our feet on train tracks, why it's better than aligning them in one vertical plane like we would in Warrior 2 pose because it's going to create more stability. It's going to allow you to really get into the hamstring, which is the point of the pose, rather than focusing on balance, which in this case is a small part of the pose, but maybe not where you get the most benefit in that shoulders class. She also happened to have on the playlist one of my all time favorite songs. It's from Trevor hall called you'd Can't Rush youh Healing. Here's a clip from my favorite lyric of this song. Mama Will, she told me time is such a wonderful gift.

You're not running out, you're really running here.

It's such a beautiful perspective. What if we're not running out of time? What would it look like to be running in? Time is such a wonderful gift, as he sings as his mama told him, what if we could get off the tightrope and out of the paradigm that we're running out and consider what it looks like to really lean in. This calls back to themes that I brought up in episode 178 when I did the book club on Jenny Odell's saving time of thinking of time as something we could garden, nourish, create more of. What would that look like? This was now almost a year after I had run into Kristen in the Post office. I took this class at 11am on a Tuesday after I had been reading the first two chapters of Saving Time and Ryder does this thing. It's so cute, as a lot of German shepherds do, where they roll over onto their back and all their limbs are kind of splayed up into the air and he just looked so relaxed and I had this moment of gratitude and I could really feel that sense of rushing in like there was nowhere to be. Both from Jenny's book Saving Time. I had given myself permission to not be at my desk, not be at my computer, to be reading and keep reading, getting whisked forward in the book. Like Daniel Doyen shared with us. Ryder is totally relaxed and peaceful and sleeping and I had just taken this class, you know, with one of my favorite songs, with one of my favorite instructors, remembering the time that I ran into her in the post office. The permission slip that I want to give you today is not to always do things by the book. Break the rules. Go run an errand in the middle of the day. Run an errand. That's a $10 task that might open you up to have some moment of joy or delight or serendipity in your day. Thank you so much for listening. Have a beautiful, serendipitous rest of your day today.

If you've listened this far, you get a gold star.

Thank you.

Word of mouth is the most joyful way we can grow this show, and it helps us land interviews with the luminaries and insightful guests that you would most love to hear from. Please send this episode to a friend who might find it helpful, and for show notes and related links from this episode, visit itsfreetime.com while you're there, make sure you're subscribed to the Time well Spent newsletter. You'll get instant access to my Tech Toolkit, a continually updated list of all the software I use, along with the total monthly spend to run my business where no one works for full time, even me. Visit itsfreetime.com join remember, you are running the show. It's time for radical reimagining and everything is up for grabs. Let it be easy, let it be fun, and build with love.

The Uniswap Wallet makes it easier and safer to own and use crypto Created by pioneers of the crypto economy, the Uniswap protocol has powered over $3 trillion in trading volume and it's trusted by tens of millions worldwide. With the Uniswap Wallet, you can discover, swap and manage your crypto all from your phone. Buy your first crypto assets in just a few taps and start exploring the freedom of decentralized finance with Uniswap Tap the banner to get started.