874. How To Find A Daily Workflow That Maximizes Energy And Brings Great Results

I think what people don't realize is that as a boss of a company, all you want is for your people to be happy. And because we know that happy people bring really great results in a company, and a company is that person's baby. It's what they want to see thrive, but they also really do truly want happy people. They want people who are excited to be in the workplace.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome back to the show. This is another episode episode of behind the Scenes of Building a Business. And my co host, Lauren Kuhlman is sitting with me. We're so excited today because we are going to talk about something that we recently have really discovered and dialed in. We've been working on it, but we really have started having conversations about how to find a workflow that maximizes your energy and brings the greatest result for the company. So, Lauren, this is something that you and I have been having really open conversations about because we've both lately been kind of observing our energy and where we want to kind of make sure that we are taking care of ourselves at a new level because we know that we are about to launch in the fall and there's going to be a whole new level required from us. I'm sure that is coming that we don't even understand. So right now, the workload is pretty large at times. We feel like if we get it dialed in now, we'll probably be really, really efficient, especially as we grow the team, like really trying to get our foundation right now. So I know for me, I work better in certain situations. I work better at certain times of the day. So what are some of the things that we're talking about with you for your workflow? When are you finding that you have the most energy and what is most beneficial for you on how you set up your. Your day?

Mine is not structured, which I actually like because I kind of go with the flow on how I'm feeling in my body and when I like, one day I might be feeling like I need to tackle work right away. Whenever I get up and see what's on my plate for the day, rather than seeing what's on my plate and then going for a workout first and thinking about work the whole time and taking a really quick workout to come back to my computer, I feel like I'm not getting my actual true workout in. So I'm not. What I was doing was I was trying to get my workout done first thing in the morning, and then I felt like I was really bombarded with work when I actually sat down and so what I'm trying to shift to is taking it day by day and seeing what's on my plate this morning, maybe looking the night before and thinking about if I should work out first thing in the morning or should I start to tackle work and then maybe work out in the afternoon. And also lately, my energy and it changes with the seasons. But right now, two and three o', clock, I feel like I kind of hit a wall because my brain is working so hard for so many hours in the morning that 2 and 3 o' clock comes around and I'm like, okay, all I want to do is, like, get out in the sun now that it's hot and warm, or go down to the gym and get a quick workout in or quick a run or something like that to move the energy around and come back and get focused. So my brain's everywhere and my workouts are everywhere. And that's what's fitting me very, very best right now.

I love this conversation so much. I mean, if true food changes their menu seasonally, why are we not changing our workflow? And as funny as that is, like, honestly, we are technically supposed to change our food with the seasons and meaning, like, what grows specifically to this season is something that your body may need and switching up your food. It's so funny because we are such creatures of habit that we can go to the grocery store and eat the same damn thing or order from the same damn place all of the time, where the world and Mother Nature is like, I'm trying to get you to eat all of the things that you need, but you're ignoring the cycles of life. Now in the desert, I don't know, we would all starve because we would just be drinking cactus juice. So I'm not sure if we're supposed.

To be here or not.

But with that said, like, I love that you're pointing out, you know, at different times of the year, you feel different. I do too. Like, in the summertime, I kind of want to, like, get out right away. I want to be out when it's beautiful. I want to have a midday break to go take a walk and recharge because I can't sit at my computer for a long time. You know, there was a point where you and I really, especially in the beginning of this business, I want to set this up for context. Lauren and I had insane workload the first year. We just did. There wasn't a huge way around it. We're doing all the things that investors needed for raising money. We had a Lot of paperwork to do. We had a lot of conversations back and forth of really tying up all of the conversations for investors and getting them in. We had a lot of finding teams, interviewing calls, setting up teams, getting things set up for website, for design, for social media. There was just a lot going on of figuring out who in the hell we were and working with different teams and inter. There was just so many phone calls and interviewing and asking, how in the hell do we get licensed? What does this look like? There was still some formulation stuff that we were doing. So I don't know if we could have had this conversation right away in the beginning of what is our best workflow, but once we dropped in and got a lot of that taken care of and started to understand what our schedule was and what it could be and what this could look like, that's really when we could start having this conversation, as of recent is okay, when do you get the best work done? And this was something that I started observing for myself, that I cannot sit at my desk like I was doing for eight hours straight. I actually start to not do good work. And that was really the ping for me to go, if I'm not doing good work, then I wonder how Lauren is feeling. If she doesn't feel like, which, by the way, you do amazing work. But the this is a real thing. If I'm feeling like I'm not doing good work just sitting here and I want to be working at different times of the day, or I need different things, what do my employees need? And it really opened me up to that conversation. I started talking to Jackie Koch about it and I was like, I cannot do this. Like, you know, how are you doing this? Like, what is your workflow like? And she's like, Lori, this idea of a 40 hour work week, from 8 to 5, or 7 to 6, or whatever people's work week is, she's like, they started this from manufacturing lines when it would just be you needed to be on the line for this long because we need this many widgets and this is how it gets done. And you clock in and you clock out and here's your lunch break. And then the rest of the world started to adopt this type of work style. This is when you work, this is when you have to be here. And now that we're in this world of being able to kind of work from anywhere and maybe getting your work done, this work style that's now being adopted by a lot of people, are you making room for the conversation not only with yourself, to Figure out workflow. But with your employees and Lauren, this is really when I was like, okay, I wanna know what your best workflow is because I wanna make sure that you are taking care of yourself because I never want you to be resentful of me or this position just because you're neglecting your self care. When I feel like that's a simple conversation of when do you work best and what do you need to perform at your best and feel good about what you' at this, you know, position and in the world. So for you, I know that you just said, you know, you want to be out in the afternoon, but what are some things that people can do if they're not maybe the boss of the company or they're working for somewhere and they want to have this conversation.

So good. So it does help in my situation that I get to have you who prioritizes your workouts every single day. And you're so intuitive, so it totally helps having you. But even if people don't have a boss like you who's even checking in, like, sure, there's a lot of people out there who might not have a boss who's checking in with them. How you do with me and makes that really easy for me to come to you. I would say notice how you're feeling and if you're like really itching to move your body in the afternoon or you're finding like you're getting blocked in the afternoon and not doing great work, where it's taking you two hours to get something done, that should take 30 minutes. Then start to just keep track of that and notice that maybe over a week or two and see if it's something that's consistent, where you can get really clear on what it is that you're really needing and how that would make you a better employee and how that would turn out better for the company. And then go to your boss and just say, hey, can I have a really quick chat with you? I just want to bring this up. I think that I would work best if I was able to take care of myself better. Maybe take a midday walk, run, workout, movement of someday, or whatever it is that you're needing. Maybe you start work a little bit later and a little bit earlier. Whatever it is that you're feeling where you're lacking the energy, you replace it with movement or something like that and tell them how that will make you show up better because you're getting your workout in or whatever it is that you're needing to feel your best and you're getting more work done in a shorter amount of time and better work done. So you're maximizing the efficiency and the quality of your work by taking care of you and not resenting your company or your boss for being put in this bucket. And they might not know what you need until you bring it up. And they might totally want to know and be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't even ask you that before. So don't think of it as a negative thing that you're bringing up to your boss because it's going to only better you and the company. And if you're worried about bringing it up, depending on who your boss is or how your workflow is, or maybe no one else in the company does this and you're the first one, say that you want to try it on for size and just give it like a trial run for a week or two and say, I'm still available if you need me. It's not like I'm going to completely turn my phone off. And if these things aren't working, we can go back to how it was. But I guarantee that they're going to be super impressed with you that you came to them because you're providing a better solution for them and the company, for you to show up as a better employee.

I love that so much because if you presented that to me, I think what people don't realize is that as a boss of a company, all you want is for your people to be happy. And because we know that happy people bring really great results in a company. And a company is that person's baby. It's what they want to see thrive, but they also really do truly want happy people. They want people who are excited to be in the workplace. So if you pitch that to whoever it is that is your higher up, whether it's a boss or a manager or whatever. We were chatting about this, Lauren. It's called managing up. So it really is, as an employee, our responsibility when I was an employee to manage up, manage what you need. So they're not always going to know. And managers or bosses really are, majority of them trying to do the best that they can. But they're just fricking human. And they're probably so confused and trying to just like manage their own self to be honest and manage their own schedule and figure it out and see what works best. Like they're trying to figure out what even just like me, what workflow works best for them. And they're probably Frustrated with their own self. So the best thing that you can do as an employee or someone who just really can see what they can't see is to put together a pitch for what works best for you and why, and pitch it to them, like, really bring it to them and say, hey, you know, I want to bring this company and you the best possible result. And I think the best possible result, or I know the best possible result that I can bring you is going to come from this. Just like you said, you know, I need this for the afternoon. I would love to see, or I would love to be done by 4 o' clock every day, but be accessible. But just get my work done in these different pockets or I work best at night, so I'm gonna be working in this pocket. But ultimately maybe even pitch it as, you know, as a project basis. Like, if I get these projects done, then I can put them wherever I want. Even if you see me doing projects from Belize, like, literally. Because I gotta be honest, you can pretty much do your work from anywhere. Lauren, I don't see you. Like, if you loved to travel, you could be like, okay, you're gonna see me on these exotic trips, but I'm still going to get my work done. Like, this is a real conversation we can have now in this type of work environment. And I think that that is. People are so afraid of just thinking that what they've been pitched is how it needs to be. But really, your boss just might be trying to do the best that they can and have not thought outside of the box. And just, I think from my perspective and Lauren, from somebody, just when we bring on different people, I think the only fear on our parts is like, okay, well, we just wanna make sure they're doing the work and that they're, you know, available. And I think that's the only fear that that brings up is like, well, how will we know the work is getting done? Or what does this look like? So I think talking about their fears, like, even saying, I love that you are pitching me this idea. I love that you think that this is gonna work best for you. I just wanna share a couple of the fears that I have that come up. I'm worried that I won't know that you're getting the job done or I won't know that X, Y and Z is gonna get done on time. Okay, a simple conversation around that is great. So state your fears if you are the boss or the person who is managing them and whatever that looks like, and then have an open conversation like, it could be as simple as great. You know what? I will check in each day and tell you where I'm at or what is getting done and so that you can know that even though you're seeing me do this, I'm getting these things done and this much time is getting spent on it or whatever that looks like. And that's a whole other conversation, right? Because if you come about how much time it's taking to get something done. Because, Lauren, if you come at something with a lot of energy, you get it done way faster, right?

Totally, yes.

Instead of just like coming at it, like exhausted, like you had mentioned, if it, if something that should take you 30 minutes is taking you 90 minutes, there's probably something you should check in with. So I think the main thing that Lauren and I want to just have all of the listeners, all of you know today is do you need to have this conversation? And are you leaving space for your employees or the people that you're managing to have this conversation? Are you checking in with them and actually asking what their best workflow is? So, Lauren, around this conversation, like, what feels good for you to either have been asked, or what are some things that you've had to bring up around finding your workflow?

I would say you've always, from day one, have brought this up. So it's made it easy because you've literally, since day one, you're like, okay, we're going to start work at 10. Because I like to get my workout done first thing in the morning. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is a dream come true. Like, can't even believe I get to have this job, for one. And then secondly, that I get to get a workout done in the morning too. What? And even teach my fitness classes before I come in. So. So that made it easy just to know that you prioritized it. But for me, as I started working from home more, I noticed that for me, with my personality, I'm the type who will just wake up, look at my emails and want to start working and responding right away and then just keep working, keep working, keep working, tell myself I'll go work out later at night. And then sometimes I was not working out or I would. And I know this so well about myself, but I still, still just want to check things off the list all the time. Or I could work out later, but it was like 8 o' clock and my workouts were just sucking because I didn't have the energy. So when I got to that point, I was aware of it first. And I was like, okay, this is all on me. It's my fault. Like, I should be able to get my workouts done in the morning or at night. But when I started noticing that I actually wanted to work and I would work best in the morning, that's when I was coming to you saying, like, you know, I feel like the way that things have shifted with our business over the past year and me working from home and just the different people we're working with. There's people on the east coast now. It's. I just told you. It's more overwhelming for me to get my workout done in the morning and ignore all of my emails for the east coast people and then try to crank them out and all these other Slack messages are coming in and all these other emails are coming in. But if I could just wake up and crank out some emails or a project or look over a contract with no other distractions coming in, I'd rather do that and then put my workout off till the afternoon or something. But not necessarily at night, because my energy is not as good at night to get my workout in. So if I want my most efficient workout, my most efficient work, here's what's best for me, is how I approached it to you. And you were like, do it. Yeah, please.

It's funny because as an employer, I was just observing, like, oh, my God, this girl will grind.

You will.

You will grind from morning until 11 or 12 at night. Sometimes later, like, you could go from 7 or 8 until 11 or 12 at night. I've literally seen you do it. And as an employer, you're kind of like, holy shit. I found that person who's, like, pushing everything forward, and they're amazing, and I'm just gonna let them do their thing. Truly, this happens all the time. People find those people and they're like, great, that's a workhorse. I'm gonna let them work. Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work. And I do think it's our responsibility to observe that and be like, this person will work themselves to death. I was like, she will work herself to death. And I was like, I want her forever, for the life of this company. And I could pretend like, I don't really see that. That's just who she is. That's literally even what I told people before. Like, that's just who she is, and you are that person. But I do think it's our responsibility to say, are you taking care of yourself? Because I can also recognize when Someone will burn themselves out and wake up one day and go, why am I not happy? Oh, my job. And that was a huge moment for me to go. I never want her to have this be the thing that is ruining a relationship, ruining her health and making her not love her life. So how do we make sure that we obviously create a work environment where we still get those results, but where she doesn't wake up one day and say, I hate my life, I hate my boss, I hate my job, I'm out of here. Because I've seen it. I have been the person who's done it. And I really think that we can get in front of all of those things with open conversation. So as much as I was like, yeah, shit is moving, I was also like, this is kind of scary because I do not want her to not like this job. So just checking in and having that conversation of like, are you okay? Are you doing the things that make you happy? Like, are you taking care of your health? Because I know when we first had our interview, that was a really big thing for you and that was important. And just learning about you, that's so important. So checking in and seeing how it can be a real true win win in a real place where you can thrive in all ways. And whether you're the employee, employee or whatever, it looks like managing people within a company, making this a really important conversation within your company. Because we have to realize we are all souls within a company. Getting dreams out into the world, like especially at light pink, that this mission is so big that if we don't take care of ourselves, we're never gonna be able to be the vessels in order to do that. And you and I both, I feel like we both just really like eat, breathe and sleep this and we need to. It's so emotional, right? Lauren, we were just talking about this business is so emotional that in order to be able to take the emotion out of it, you actually have to be in a good emotional state, which means you need to be taking care of yourself or will get emotional.

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When you're not in a good place. Do you feel like you can handle some of these conversations?

Not nearly as well, that's for sure. Yeah. And I feel with all of that that you're saying too, it's. It is emotional and is emotionally draining. So if you're already exhausted and burning yourself out, I can't imagine. Thankfully, I haven't been in that situation where I've been burnt out and so exhausted that taking some of these hard things would just emotionally exhaust me even more. So you are right with getting ahead of it, but what I was going to add to that is it's so amazing that you. If it weren't for you being the person you are and the leader you are, I would be getting to this point where it'd be so, like, my health would be so out of whack because I would just continue to work and work and not get my workouts in so much, even though I want to do them a lot. I thrive when I work out. I love movement. If I could work out several times a day, I would, but I choose to keep working. So if it weren't for you checking in with me, I would be like, I love everything that I do. I want to keep doing this. So it's so true that, like, as somebody who's managing or as an owner, if you think that your person, your employee, loves doing their work and loves working all the time, that is true. But they do need someone. If they're a person like me, they actually need someone to, like, be the example and to truly check in and push them. Like, I think about you sometimes where I'm like, Lori would tell me to go work out and get off my chair and actually go move my body. So I'm doing it for her and me, not just for me. So that is so huge. But the other part of it is, if I didn't have you say I was an entrepreneur myself and I didn't have you, I would be burning myself out and not doing effective work and having no one to check in with. So I think for the entrepreneurs who are not having a leader to check in with them is, I think, for you. How could they, coming from your experience where you shifted your work schedule now and your workouts and your environments and all of that, how can they, without having a boss to check in on them, take care of themselves? If they are the type who wants to just grind, grind, grind and potentially get to that place of burnout, how do they prevent that from happening and take Care of themselves.

Such good perspective. I love hearing just your thoughts and your side of that as well. It really just helps me even learn more, not only about how we can help people as they come into this company, but just how I can also help myself. Because when I help myself, it helps you, and it helps what we're doing here, and it helps me just be more aware. And, you know, I didn't share that. My work has really shifted as well. Like, I'm finding I have to get out of the house. So I'm going to different working spaces. I'm going to. My gym has a really amazing workspace. That's a cafe. I've been going to a juice place where a bunch of people work. I work so well in that energy, and I work so fast. So things that were taking me literally, like, four hours at home are taking me 90 minutes or an hour when I'm out and I'm getting so much done, I'm super inspired. I don't hit the end of my day and feel exhausted and resentful. I'm actually still excited. And I was starting to notice, like, oh, my God, did I choose something that I'm just gonna grind and feel resentful every day? And I was like, lori, what is your responsibility in this? Like, where are you doing something that you don't have to be doing? Or not just that, but, like, how are you working in a way that's not working for you? And sitting at a desk in my house all day for eight hours straight is a recipe for me to freak the F out. I'm a creative. I need to go be out in the world or shift my environment a couple times. So what's working really well for me is mentally, this has been me since I've figured this out at a really young age. I have to go move my body right away in the morning, so I have to journal. I have to pray. I have to move my body right away in the morning because I have a bunch of kind of anxiety to burn off or things like that that I just reset. I have to get my mind reset in that way, or I don't do good work. And then I can sit down at my desk or what's been working well is staying at the gym or going right away to a cafe for about three to four hours and then coming home, having that drive, going and grabbing a coffee or a juice, and then coming home and finishing up whatever work it is that I have from home. So I'm gonna try to figure out how to have my calls during those times when I'm at home. Have that really set, like three to four hours of really focused work at a cafe where it is just like the things that I need to get done, the creative work, the really big needle moving work, and then come back to finish whatever things, whether that's email or calls or things like that at home, podcasting when I need to be at home. So I really wanna try to get out of the house at least minimum three days a week, if not four to five, and have my work schedule set up that way. And that's really what has been ultimately working the best for me. So I love your idea for yourself of just getting out in the afternoon, going with the seasons. Like, you love when it's hot out, you love when it's warm out. Getting outside, that gives you more energy. And again, we're after a result, right? Ultimately, you and I are after a result, and that is getting a shit ton of amazing creative work done, moving the freaking needle on this company and feeling good doing it. Because we know that still having a life, you're still having a life because we know that you burn out. I can't tell you how many founders I've met who are like, get me out of this company. I can't wait to sell it. This is my worst nightmare. Like, people think it's so awesome. How many podcasts have I. I literally just recorded one. I'm not even gonna say who it was with, but they were just like, being a founder is a nightmare. Nobody knows how hard it is. And I was like, true. And how can I not have that be my story? How can I not have that be my story? Who the f wants to get into this?

I love that so much. And I, I'm glad that you brought that up because I think that we wanna help other people get to that point with their business. So why not be the example of it and like literally try it out and see how it works and show people that we can build like Pink to do all of these different things, all of the goals that we have, like, we can accomplish all of that and still have all the self care that we need, all of the fun we need to have, all the commitments that we still want to have, the vacations we want to take. Do all of that while building the business to not just be some small business that takes a while to grow, but like explodes right away. So it's just that example of like, you can have this huge dream that you want to happen super fast and you will work super hard to get there. But you're not sacrificing all of the other things that you hear every other founder saying that they're doing. Like, we want to change that and be the proof for all the other people to do the same thing.

I lied to myself for, like, you know, eight years of building businesses before this. And Chris and I just burnt out. Like, every weekend we were working, every weekend we were doing an event for network marketing. Every weekend we were putting something on or we were at a mastermind or running a Mastermind. And I literally hit a wall so hard that I don't think I talk about enough, that I've never been so depressed. I've never had such bad anxiety. I'd never had such horrible panic attacks all the time. I truly went through a few years of secretly hating my life and resenting everyone because I had so much anxiety. Like, it was just. It was too much. It was way too much to the point where I felt like just total breakdown. And I don't wanna see that happen for people. It doesn't mean you're not gonna have to hustle. You will have to hustle your ass off. You really will. But a vacation a year or a vacation every six months, trust me, it's not gonna hurt your business. Your business will move forward. It's not gonna go away because you went away for three days or five days every single six months, that actually makes you not hate your life. So you have to really, really get real with yourself and say, if you hate your life and you hate your business, it's on you. We set up the culture. We set up the culture. So, you know, and for anyone who's not the boss, like, you get the opportunity to manage up. And if you are miserable, try managing up. And if you're still miserable and they don't, you know, let you do the thing that, you know, you need for your soul, then it's probably not a fit for you. Go find a culture or go start something or try to find another job that actually works for you and respects that kind of schedule.

So.

All right, Lauren. This was such a good one. I just feel like I hope that this message resonates for people. And I also always want to be really real, that it's like you're going to probably be in the phase Lauren and I were in for a year and a half where we did really hustle and we did really feel pretty burnt out trying to figure things out. I don't want to pretend like it's all going to be rainbows, and that this is a conversation you can have if you're in the heat of building and you have a lot of deadlines. But I do believe that we can question everything and that even within that year, we probably could have questioned everything and found something that even worked a little bit better. So. All right, you guys, we are so grateful for you. We love to hear your takeaways. We are loving what you guys are saying and that this is helping you. It's so great to hear just exactly what is helping you so that we can know what to talk about next. So give us a tag, let us know what your biggest takeaway was or what you want to hear, what questions you have for the next episodes, and we will talk to you next week.

Bye, everyone.