5 Ways to Practice Simplicity & Get More Done
5 Ways To Practice Simplicity & Get More Done
How more simplicity can help you with your online offer, marketing & branding everyday
I’m not really one of life’s ‘simple’ people. I don’t mean that as in, an insult on one’s mental capacities, but more - one of those people who are able to see things in a simple way or take a simple action.
Hanging out in the grey
You know, a black & white type person. I LOVE grey, hang out in the grey all the time. If it can be made more complicated, I’m sure to find a way. If I can do it slower, faff around with other things that circumvent the actual thing, then believe me, I will.
So as I came back to work after having my second baby, I found the balance of roles rather challenging. Really I’m just grabbing a few hours here and there, it’s nothing like have a long, solid day stretch ahead of you. Because ‘lockdown babies’ are very hard for others to look after, she’s literally never been looked after by anyone except me & my husband, not even for an hour.
And it’s no fun for anyone to have constant screaming. I just can’t bear it.
So with a few hours here and there, there just has to be changes. And simplicity is at the heart of those.
Changing the tech that runs my business & courses
The first thing I did was cut out all unnecessary platforms & make tech choices based on what would make my life simpler. Believe me, I’ve kissed a lot of frogs when it comes to course platforms, email providers, web sites, Memberships…I’ve tried so many things.
Having the focus of simplicity makes decisions a lot easier. For example, I was using Kajabi - but as a comprehensive all in one platform, it’s expensive & hardly simple. So I made a change to Podia. I changed email from Convert Kit to Flodesk (note affiliate link).
I stopped using Instagram schedulers. I haven’t attempted a Reel yet, because I know it’s a rabbit hole!
I’m currently working on pulling together my tech recommendation for my next Expand Your Brand cohort. And simplicity is at the heart of everything, because it means my students get things done without the overwhelm.
Big rocks
Then a couple of months ago I did a 3 day challenge some time ago by Laura Phillips, of Love To Launch. It was brilliant. If I thought I could find the time I’d have signed up to her programme too, perhaps I will next time. Anyway, in the challenge she talked about ‘Big Rocks’.
You know how the saying goes. You can fill a jar when you put the big rocks in first, then the pebbles, then the sand. But not the other way around. I’ve heard this so many times before but something about the way she delivered it made me really listen.
Big rocks come first.
Is it a thing that’s going to move you closer to your goal? Is it income generating activity? Is it nurturing a relationship? These are the big rocks & they need to be the main thing you focus on.
A philosophy of simplicity
Add to this a philosophy for simplicity that I started honing during the various lockdowns...like so many people, learning a simpler, calmer existence everyday. Learning to strip away the busyness. Learning to choose - am I doing thing A or thing B right now? Because doing A, B & C just isn’t working.
With mental health struggles - feeling isolated, angry, sad. I also found imagining a different way of working to be a little tonic sometimes. What if I only did one thing, but did it really well?
Before
And so simplicity is now a daily practice for me & a core brand value. I thought I could pass on a few tips that might help you too.
5 ways to create more simplicity every day
Focus on the big rocks first. You may never reach a pebble, and that’s ok.
If you get the brain fuzz feeling of overwhelm, stop & ask yourself ‘what am I trying to achieve here? Is this thing I’m doing right now contributing to it’?
With designing your product or offer, can you sum it up easily in one-two sentences? If not, what can you take away? How can you strip it back?
With your marketing, choose your top focus, then focus there. For example, email & relationships are usually the things that bring you actual customers, yet often it’s social media that takes up so much of your time.
With your branding, do you have consistent styles you use or are you frequently redesigning things? The next time you create graphics consider duplicating & reusing the exact same style. For example, I have started using large lettering as overlays - I wanted to faff around doing something different on my ‘Start Here’ page, but I’m staying on the simplicity straight & narrow!
These are all rather obvious I admit, but sometimes you need to see it written it down. Sometimes it’s more about managing yourself if you’re prone to procrastination & perfectionism. Those two tricksters have tripped me up many a time!
What themes are crucial to you day-to-day in how you do things (your values)? Have you made conscious changes to get to those? It’s amazing how we evolve as we continue on this journey of entrepreneurship.
Best of luck with your journey to simplicity.
If you’re interested in more detailed help with tech & getting your first online offer out into the world, take a look at Expand Your Brand. It’s a live group experience to create and launch your first online course, workshop or group programme.
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