You are listening to My Freedom Grove podcast with Gretchen Hernandez, episode 191.

Welcome to My Freedom Grove Podcast, your calm space for practical help to get your dream business up and running while being authentically you and taking care of your mental health. I'm your host, Gretchen Hernandez. I'm so glad you're here!

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Hi My Strong Friends.  I’m doing something a little different with the next few episodes.  I’m experimenting with recording them with the video camera on.  Part of the reason is to show you a great product I tried lately that helped me through some rough months.  

I liked the product so much, I agreed to a sponsorship request by the company that makes it.  This is a big deal.  I’m very protective of my audience.  In fact, I’ve never accepted a sponsorship proposal before.  You know this must be something special.

As you heard in my last episode, I had a bunch of Life Whammies happen all at once. 

When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to figure out how to keep your business going even when you’re having energy dips with Mental or Physical health challenges and when the unexpected happens.

As Entrepreneurs we’re doing Business and Mental Health together.  When unexpected life whammies happen our emotions take a nosedive and zap our energy.  

You know I love using Mindset Tools to manage my Mental Health, but sometimes too many triggers happen all at once.  That’s what happened to me during the last 3 months.  I needed to bring in some extra help so I could function and keep my business going.

I experimented with the Productivity Shot from Magic Mind. 

Can I just tell you…those shots were my saving grace. I drank one each morning before my regular cup of coffee.  Within 30 minutes I felt a bump up in my mood.  I was calm and my head was super clear.  I was able to get more done than on my regular days. 

There’s a bunch of great natural stuff in these shots.  The 2 most important to me are:  Adaptogens which boost mood and help me relax. And Nootropics for staying focused.

I definitely recommend you give Magic Mind Productivity Shots a try. 

I’m excited to share that Magic Mind gave me a special link and discount code to share with you.  When you go to www.magicmind.com/myfreedom within the next 10 days you’ll get up to 56% off your first subscription.  Additionally, you can use the code MYFREEDOM20 to get 20% off your first purchase. 

In this episode we’re going to talk about Compassionate Energy Management.

I stress the word compassionate here.  For many of us our default is self criticism and shame.  What happens when we do that?  Yep, more energy gets drained away.  It’s the worst possible motivator you can use.  However, when you use compassion, there’s no extra energy drain.  Your energy can only go up.

I’m going to introduce 3 terms so we have some common language.

Then I’ll share when I pull back in my business and why.  And what I have in place to keep my business running during those times.

And then I’ll share a few tips and tricks I use to bump up my energy when certain high visibility things have to get done.

First - let’s talk terms

High Energy Tasks vs. Low Energy Tasks

Emotional Load - Responsibilities & emotions

Energy Transfer

High Energy Tasks & Low Energy Tasks - simple binary way of describing them. 

Some tasks require you to have High Energy.

Some tasks can be done when you have Low Energy.

I also use the Spoon Theory when I need more than binary.  Every morning we wake with a certain number of energy spoons.  That number may fluctuate day to day.  It may also be different for each person.

Each activity requires a different amount of spoons of energy.  You have to budget your spoons throughout the day.  It’s also important to save a couple of spoons for the end of the night self care activities.

The secret is discovering how you can replenish spoons throughout the day.

What are some High Energy tasks?- For me, anything that is public facing requires me to be in High Energy. Any Marketing or workshop facilitation.  

You’d think that coaching would require High Energy too.  For some people it does.  It takes an enormous amount of mental bandwidth to use the right skills and strategic questions.  However, coaching is an energy replenisher for me.  Good things always happen during sessions.  Wins give me energy.

Low Energy Tasks - Building websites, landing pages and most tech stuff.  But not sales pages.  Lol  Sales Pages are still a High Energy task for me.

You may categorize your tasks differently than me.  We are all wired differently.

I have some weird tasks for me that are High Energy that don’t make sense.  Like putting a book back in a bookshelf.  It seems like a 1 spoon activity.  Yet it can feel like a 10 spoon activity.

I also notice that the energy level of the same exact task can be different on different days.  Sometimes putting 10 books away is a 1 spoon activity for me.

I just ride those good days when they come.

Emotional Load is the next term.  It refers to all of the responsibilities, burdens and undesirable emotions.

I picture emotional load as sandbags.  When I have a lot of sandbags, my available energy is substantial less.  And the number of spoons to do a regular task is more.

There may be Light Emotional Load Days.  This may even include Joy which acts as a helium balloon to pull you up higher.  You have a lot of energy on these days.

And then there are Heavy Emotional Load Days.

Energy Transfer - absorbing another person’s energy (empath), or being influenced or triggered by another person’s energy…having thoughts and feelings about that person’s energy

When to Pull Back.

2 Reasons - Self Preservation & Damaging Energy Transfer

Reason #1  - Self Preservation - If you overspend your energy spoons, you’re borrowing from your future.  Also, there’s a big chance you could cause physical brain and body health damage.  When I was 28 I had a mini-stroke after overspending my energy spoons at work.

That created memory and speech damage in my brain.  It took more than 15 years to recover to 90%.

I’ve had several depressive cycles in my life too.  I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder at age 19.  During those cycles I’d wake up with only 3-4 energy spoons.  If I overspent, the deficit created even more depression, leading into what I call the danger zone when you don’t want to live anymore.

My friend, nothing is worth jeopardizing yourself like that.  There are always solutions even on low energy days.  I’ll get into some of those solutions in a few minutes.

Reason #2 - Don’t spread your low energy to your audience

We know our businesses need marketing.  There’s Great Marketing, OK Marketing and Bad Marketing.

If we are having a Heavy Emotional Load Day, energy will be low.  Some of the emotions may even include despair, anger or resentment.  If we try to do marketing at those times, that energy can leak through and unintentionally become Bad Marketing.

Marketing is meant to influence thoughts and emotions that lead potential clients to want to buy products or services.

I have an agreement with myself to pull back from marketing when my energy is low.  I’d rather deal with the effect of no marketing than do damage control after Bad Marketing.

Now, you know that I share about my rough times.  I believe in Courageous Vulnerability.  My rule of thumb is Share Scars, Not Wounds.

When I share about the rough times, it’s afterward.  Once I’ve had enough time to heal and bring my energy back up.  I’m then able to share about them from a different, helpful perspective.

If I shared while I was knee deep in the rough time, the emotional energy would be pretty bad.

This also brings the wrong type of attention.  Instead of you marketing to people you can help, it gets interpreted as you being the one that needs help.  You’ll see lots of comments where people are offering you services.

Luckily marketing activities are little chunks of time. 

Glimmer Windows may provide just enough time to quickly create 1 marketing item.

A Glimmer Window is a temporary break in the negative emotions.  Sometimes we can influence them to happen.  Like drinking the Magic Mind Productivity Shot.  It helped open a glimmer window so I could fit in some marketing.  

Other Times glimmer windows happen randomly.  Seize those opportunities when you can.  Even if you create some marketing and bank it to use at a different time.

How to keep the Business Lights On:

Premade marketing or Webinars

Throughout the years you’ll create a collection of webinars.  It’s ok to dust one off and offer the replay.  The content is still golden.  Your audience may be ready for it now.  Some really like repetition because the content means something different now.  Also, you keep attracting new members to your audience.  They never had the chance to watch your older offers.

Create small pieces of marketing during glimmer windows.  Create your Emergency Fund of marketing pieces to use on rainy days.

Repurpose old posts.  One 7 figure coach repurposes her best content every 6 months.  Keep doing it until the interest dies down.

Reevaluate some of your activity by looking at your metrics.  During my recent podcast pause I was surprised to see that my download numbers increased beyond the standard.  People finally had time to listen to previous episodes.  And my monthly traffic to my website stayed consistent.

You may be surprised that all of the work you put in from months or years past is serving you well now.  Like a form of Passive Income.

That may also be an option for How to Keep the Lights On.  Invest your time now in at least 1 product and evergreen funnel to be your passive income.  One that you can “turn on” without having to do anything else.

Generate Glimmer Windows-

Drink the healthy supplements

Eat food with B6 and B12

Go do some grounding exercises by standing barefoot on the grass or dirt
Watch moving water for a while

Watch a higher energy YouTube Video over and over

Listen to a higher energy song over and over

Drink a big glass of water

Smell some fresh cut oranges

Take the pressure off of having a good full day.  Just shoot for 10-20 minutes of a Glimmer Window so you can get your important work task done.

Lighten your Emotional Load (responsibilities)

Recognize and acknowledge all the pieces of your Emotional Load.

Have Compassion for yourself

Ask which parts of the Load really belong to another person?

How can you give it back?

For everything that is yours, does it all have to happen today?

How much is the penalty if you postpone it?  Is that a reasonable tradeoff?

Let me get specific here.  We know our income is tied to our businesses.  If we step back from our business, there may be an income dip. 

Ok, so that brings us to bills and credit ratings.  Penalties of late fees, disruptions or lower scores can happen.

Maybe those are a reasonable tradeoff for your current needs.

Let’s say there is a $25 late fee.  Are you willing to accept that a bill will be late and pay the $25 late fee at a later date?  That might be very reasonable.

We don’t have to be scared of consequences.  We can embrace the consequences.  Those consequences may be significantly less than the health consequences we face if we push ourselves when the energy isn’t there.

My Final tip is to have Curious Comparison vs. Judgmental Comparison

I don’t have the same physical energy today vs. 3 years ago

I don’t have the same physical energy today vs. a month ago

Instead of judging yourself or feeling sad about it, get curious.  What has changed since the previous time?

My daughter had a heavy emotional load about a month ago.  We couldn’t figure out the trigger.  On the same day all of the Video service providers experienced outages.

After some Google searches I learned of an extremely large solar flare.  The solar flare disrupted energy currents including the video technology.  It also said that it impacted people with Autism, like my daughter.

Stay Curious. Have some compassion.  Let your inner nurture hug you during the hard times.  Allow yourself to pull back and replenish spoons when needed.

There are always solutions to your immediate needs.

Above all else, talk to yourself with compassion.

Sometimes having a kind gentle coach with you during your workday will help you get your things done.  When I work with clients 1:1 we have longer than usual sessions.  Typically they are 2 hours long.

These are working sessions + coaching.  Instead of hearing your Inner Critic as you work, you hear my kind mindset shifts.  And I help you through those tasks that feel like a lot of spoons.  The task is lighter when you have extra hands.

I recently added full day intensives too.  For anyone that wants to get a significant amount of work done in an 8 hour period.  I help keep you focused, making progress and keep your mood up.

I help you with all of your Business Deliverables and your Mental Health.  If you’re curious, let’s chat.  You can schedule a free consultation directly on my website at myfreedomgrove.com. Go to the Contact Me page to schedule your call.

My Friends, I hope you have a great week.  I’ll see you next week.  Bye Bye.

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