Time for Tea
Who has time for tea. Seriously!?
Well, I invite you to find some. Tea has been one of my pandemic gifts. While my kids were home from school, I spent a lot of time working from home. And that meant I was interrupted less. I soon discovered that after working furiously at my desk for 30 or 40 minutes, when I got stuck on something it was a great gift to be able to get up and make a cup of tea (or, even better, ask one of my sons to make one for me!). I love tea. All kinds of tea. Particularly anything with cinnamon or ginger. But stay with me, this isn't really about tea.
"Working" doesn't always happen at work.
This isn't news to us entrepreneurs but now it is a reality for a much larger proportion of our community. As entrepreneurs we probably have a relationship with our work which means it is hard to switch off. I have often called myself a slave to my to do list. But lately I've been trying to nurture my relationship with work differently. I've been trying to extract my judgement of my value and my productivity away from my to do list and also away from counting the hours I spend at my desk, or my taproom, or my brewery. I get paid to lead my company, develop strategy and manage execution.
I get paid to make shit happen.
If I do my job well, my company will have plenty of money to pay me. I don't get paid based on the number of things I checked off my to do list, OR the number of hours I spent pouring beer or sitting in front of my computer.
The most important thing I do every day is get clear on what is important to get done that day.
What does this have to do with tea?
Well. For me, sometimes those things that are most important aren't the most satisfying. Sometimes they are things that make me uncomfortable (like cold calling someone) or things that I really truly wish were not part of my job (like chasing receivables). These are the things that are easy to procrastinate. But procrastinating the important things, or leaving them to the end of the day when we're tired is a recipe for getting stuck.
So here's my tea trick. I figure out exactly what from my list is most important to get done today. Some of the important things are fun, and I don't worry too much about those, I just acknowledge their importance. But the ones that give me a little sense of dread go on my tea list. I make myself a nice cup of tea and ... I just get them out of the way. While enjoying my tea. It seems trivial, but it's kind of a ritual for me now, and it works. The best part of this is that after my tea list is done, I can let the rest of the day unfold and listen to what inspires me or choose to respond to what happens, instead of being a slave to my list. Because I know what is important, and I've gotten the worst part out of the way.
It only takes a few minutes to make a cup of tea, but it has saved me hours of staring at my list, berating myself for not getting enough done. The cup of tea gives me the nudge I need to take action.
What's your cup of tea?
xoxo
Emily