#135 Year's End: Glide or Grind, with Emma McQueen
Welcome to quarter four of 2023!
If you haven’t already, you’ll want to make sure you’re set up for a restful and rejuvenating break at the end of the year. This looks like a challenging task but with proper planning and forethought, it can be easily achieved!
I’m joined again today by special guest and seasoned entrepreneur, Emma McQueen, to talk about the importance of managing your work well as the year comes to a close.
Emma is one of my business besties and a coach who helps women achieve incredible results in their businesses. Through her coaching program, Thriving Women, Emma has cultivated a spirited community. Here, standout women come together, sparking creativity, fostering deep connections, and setting forth on a path of perpetual growth. She is also a woman who is not afraid of hard work, with ‘hustle’ being her favourite word.
In the past, both Emma and I had to drag ourselves over the finish line each year. It was a grind and we were never able to properly recover before the next year began. Now we’ve made changes to our lives and businesses that allow us to glide through this last quarter.
In this episode, we share the lessons and decisions that have shaped our approach to managing our end-of-year. Emma advocates for the importance of taking regular, refreshing breaks throughout the year, ensuring both mental and physical well-being.
I share one of the biggest lessons I learned and that is the importance of energy management. Managing your energy instead of rigidly managing time can help you achieve optimal efficiency and wellness.
I hope this episode provides you with tangible strategies and actionable advice to help you over the transition to 2024!
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Tracey: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the rise up in business podcast. Today we have another fun chat with Emma McQueen and I'm really loving the series of chats that Emma and I are putting together and I know how much value listeners are getting out of it. And I really hope that you get value out of this one today as well, because this is a topic that is so important to me.
On today's podcast, Emma and I are going to talk about the lead up to the end of the year. And it's timely to deliver this episode now, because as you've heard me say so often, there's no substitute for preparation and I plan quarterly in advance. So, my planning for 2024 is well underway and my planning for the end of the year has been done and dusted for some time.
Some time ago, I declared to myself that I was not going to be that business owner anymore that gets to the finish line at the end of the year and collapses in a heap. You know, when we feel like we're dragging ourself to the end of the year, we're just hanging out and doing all the things and we're ratted and we're exhausted and all the things we get to the end of the year shut down and then we collapse and we're tired and we don't take the time in the lead up.
To nurture ourselves and to set ourselves up for a beautiful, rejuvenating holiday period. So, what tends to happen is that by the time the end of the break or the shutdown or whatever it is that we've got going on for our business, by the time the end of that comes, we're only just starting to feel better, and we have to get back in and do it all over again.
That was my life in corporate traditional legal practice. and it was certainly me earlier on in my business journey. I don't do that anymore. [00:02:00] And neither does Emma. So, when Emma and I were chatting, which we do a lot, we had landed on the phrase glide or grind.
And I hope that resonates for you as well as it does for us. So please enjoy this episode here, what we've got to say about our lead up to the end of the year. And I hope that there's some little nuggets for you that are of value that you can implement in your business to set you up for a successful lead up to the end of the year.
Hi, Em. I love these conversations so much.
Emma: Me too.
Tracey: This topic is so good and so important. It's really near and dear to my heart. A few years ago I had an epiphany and that was, now that I'm running my own business, I don't actually have to fall in a heap over the finish line at the end of the year anymore.
Emma: Congratulations.
Tracey: Yes, thank you.
It was a very pivotal moment, but again, it came from a number of years, lesson needed to be learnt, traditional legal practice, everything becomes urgent for everybody else right up until the last second. You're full in a heap, you don't enjoy any of the festive season, you need to rest the entire time and then just when you start to feel good you've got to get back into it and do it all over again.
Emma: Yes.
Tracey: This is no way to live.
Emma: No, we agree on this.
Tracey: We do. I decided a few years ago that wasn't going to be me anymore. And you know me, once I decide, that's it. And I haven't done it since, but so many women still do. So, I've phrased this when I talk to you and when I talk to my clients, when I talk to other women, it's either a glide or a grind in the lead up to the end of the year. Let's talk about your glide.
Emma: Yeah, I like to glide too, but sometimes I need to kick up the butt to remember that I need to glide rather than grind. I think there's also this trap that we can get everything done in a day. When you own a business, you cannot get everything done [00:04:00] in a day. I mean, the to do list is never ending, right?
And I think there's this. I suppose it's a narrative that if you can get your to do list done, then it's all well and good and you can have a little holiday and I'm just not sure that's true. I also see, I work with some corporate organizations, and I literally see their people turn feral about November.
so, from a legal perspective, you may have seen it as well, but in a corporate world, absolutely. They don't give themselves a break. They, try and, fit as much in as entirely possible. And then they give themselves two weeks off over Christmas and they think, oh, I'm going to be back and fresh.
And then they drag themselves back in January and that does not happen. And they repeat, repeat, repeat. And I'm like, this is not good. I think in small businesses, we do the same thing. Every January I sit down, and I pull out one of those big planners. I don't know what size they are, but they're massive planners.
And the first thing I do is go, okay, what holidays am I having this year? Because I'm a busy mom and my husband is a schoolteacher, so he has school holidays off. And I know if I don't put in those school holidays or a little bit of those school holidays, then I'm going to. feel a sense of missing out from not hanging out with him and not hanging out with our daughters.
And so I take off at least a week in each school holidays to rest. And I also take off three days a quarter to work on my business on myself or with a group of business buddies. And I get those things in the diary first. And I also have six weeks off at the end of the year. To make sure that I'm really rested and have a good reset and don't pick up that laptop in that time and knowing I've got those holidays in place throughout the year means I can have a break more regularly than just waiting till the end of the year.
Tracey: You're saying that helps you glide to the end of the year, knowing that you've got those breaks peppered through?
Emma: Definitely, Definitely!
Tracey: I love that. Something that I, do, and I want to share here, is sit down in January and block out the holidays. I've got to admit though. I've already done it for next year.
Emma: Of course you have.
Tracey: I've done that [00:06:00] and I now to block out a holiday for myself one week, at least in each of the school holidays. And so next year will be the first time that I actually am going to dutifully take that full week. And I'm really excited, but I got that off you. I copied you inspired me.
Emma: I can't wait to hear how it goes.
Tracey: It's going to be great.
My hack for gliding now and not grinding up until the end of that year. It's boundaries, but for myself, so I use monday. com as my workflow planner in my business and I have quarterly boards. You know, we've got a board set up for Tracy's quarterly planning and in there is a quarterly board.
And so, I go and dump all of the things that I'm going to do or think about later in their respective quarter. And that stops my obsession with my to do list, having to clear my to do list before we hit that end of year. Break period so that I'm not grinding until the end, as you said earlier, as business owners, we get the to do list and oh my gosh, there's so much to do on the to do list.
And I have to get it all cleared before I can go into the Christmas break and then I'm going to be exhausted. I'm going to crawl over the finish line. We don't want that. So what I do now, it's boundaries for myself and I've become really good at it. I'm proud to say.
Emma: Well done you.
Tracey: Does this need to be done before the end of the year?
No. Does it need to be done in quarter one next year or quarter two? I'll think about it then and I pop it in there and then I know it's not going to be forgotten So it's not taking up space in my mind and I'm very comfortable that I've popped it somewhere and I will get to it I don't need to worry about it It frees up my mental load and it gives me the capacity to then focus on the things that I actually have decided Do need to be done by the end of the year.
Emma: And I also think sometimes it just catches us out and I remember us having a conversation and I'm like, I'm so exhausted. Why am I so exhausted? Cause nothing's happening. You're like, you're doing a lot of thinking. It's the cognitive stuff that's happening. Right. And I'm like, Oh, that is actually true.
I need to somehow give my brain a rest. And I also [00:08:00] think to not grind to the end of the year, it's using your energy. Before the end of the year. So, for me, September is a big month for us. We batch our content. We look at programming for the next year. We do a lot of things in September, knowing I have the energy in September, but I won't have that same energy in November.
And so it's how you kind of hack yourself and work out. Where's my energy going to be at and how am I going to pull these things off? And so, for us, October through to December is actually really quiet in terms of content development, in terms of podcast producing, in terms of all the other things, because we're gliding into the year.
If you can set yourself up well in September or even October, then you can glide into the, back into the year.
Tracey: I love what you've said here, and you've really reframed it. Em, rather than managing your time, you're managing your energy.
Tracey: I've heard that phrase a lot, especially lately, since I've been focusing on ways to share this information with other women and ways to empower. Other women to do the same because it's been so beneficial for me.
But the concept of flipping it and managing your energy and not managing your time can be a real game changer. I'm hearing from women. Certainly it works for me. As I've said before on the podcast, I'm obsessed with human design. It's like a beautiful rabbit hole I've gone down that I hope I never come out of
it I do. I really do. It has been an absolute game changer for me in business and in personal life, but I'm a splenic projector, which means I don't have as much energy as some of the other designs.
Tracey: So I need to manage my energy better to optimize my time. And it works. So I plan in quarters. And so, as it is no surprise to you, I'm well into planning for quarter one next year.
Quarter four has, been planned for a while. And I love what you've said around September and harnessing that energy in September to set yourself up for the glide.
Emma: I know [00:10:00] October and November, I'll start thinking about all the things that need to happen from school activities to Christmas to, you know, you name it. it's all happening. And also, summer's coming. I don't want to be chained to my desk in summer. Summer makes me feel happy and delightful and, full of joy.
Whereas September, we're coming into some really nice weather. , it lifts our spirits. , I think if you can get stuff done, but I think energy management is the key rather than time management, because if you manage the minutes, almost so what, but if you manage your energy and you feel good, then that's a game changer, I think, for women in business.
Tracey: I agree with that wholeheartedly. And I think allowing ourselves the flexibility to be fluid in our calendars. And so I treat my calendar very much like a Lego or a Tetris style. And there's blocks of things that I've got in there that I can move if I need to, depending on what my energy is like. And I feel that that sets me up for success.
And I love the concept of glide because to me that implies a smooth effortless motion.
It's easeful. It has flow. that's what I think we aspire to consciously or subconsciously. But when we talk about the grind, I feel like it's the opposite.
I feel like there's nothing easeful. It's hard work. It's a slog. It's relentless. It's tiring. We don't want to be in the grind. Well, Eva, although we have to admit, sometimes a season of business calls for it
and so be it, but heading into the last quarter of the year, heading into the festive season, into the beautiful weather, into the time that we get to spend out of the business, I thought it was a really fabulous opportunity for us to have this conversation now, right? So that people can start taking little nuggets of gold, take what resonates with you from this chat and implement just some little things that can help set you up for success and ideally set you up to glide to the end of the year as well.
Emma: know I would love to hear from people about what they're doing to set themselves up to glide versus grind. Like even if you just do one thing that you know is gonna be a game changer for you, it might [00:12:00] be that you get up and you take your dog for a walk around the block a couple of times a day just to give you that burst of energy.
You know, it might be that you stop and Do journaling for 10 minutes. It might be that you just sit on the couch and do nothing. Or you sit in the sun for 10 minutes, you know, like it just could be one thing that helps you glide into the end of the year rather than feeling like, Oh, this is hard work.
Tracey: Depending on when you're listening to this episode, it may be when Emma and I are recording towards the end of September. It may be closer to the end of the year. It doesn't matter. The point is you can take little nuggets from the episode.
You can apply what resonates, try and see what works for you and set yourself up for a smooth glide into the end of the year and stay away from that grind.
Emma: I know. Do we need a new hashtag? Do we need like hashtag Glide Glide or Grind? Or do we just need a hashtag that says hashtag Glide? Tell us what you're doing.
Tracey: I like that. great chat M as always. Thank you. I love the feedback that we both get from these episodes, and I would love to know from listeners what is it that's resonated with you from this episode? What is it that you're going to try, or have you tried to set you up for a glide towards the end of the year?
Oh, we would love to know.
Emma: Awesome. Thanks, Tracy. Ah, that was such fun. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to share this episode with you. As you can see, Emma and I really do have a great time chatting about all things business and all things that we know deliver such value to other business owners. So, I hope that you're able to take something away from that.
Tracey: Take what you will discard what doesn't work, discard what doesn't resonate, obviously, but if there's anything in there. That you feel could help you ease into the end of the year and set yourself up for that smooth glide into the end of the year. Then I hope you adopt it and I hope it works really well for you.
And if you are thinking of any business friends or colleagues that you think would benefit from this episode, I would be so grateful if you would share [00:14:00] this episode with them, because that is how we help the podcast get into the ears of even more business owners. So, if you want to share more with Emma and I, if you want to follow us along on our business journeys, please jump over to Instagram because we're very active there.
And we would love to hear from you. And I would so love to hear from you about what works and what doesn't. And if there's anything you've taken away from this episode, I'd love to know what it was. As always, thank you so much for listening. I appreciate your time so much, and I'll be back here with you next week.
LINKS:
Connect with Emma McQueen:
Website: https://emmamcqueen.com.au/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmarmcqueen/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmamcqueen/
Connect with Tracey:
Book a Strategy Session with me here
Get your copy of my Annual Legal Checklist here
Join Me on Social:
Rate, Review and Follow me on Apple Podcasts
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