Put Pleasure Before Business. Here's How to Make it Happen.
During a recent Dames Engaging Conversations call (part of our membership offerings), we discussed a transformative approach to building your business and career—one that places your pleasure, desires, and life goals at the forefront rather than treating them as an afterthought.
So many women try to "shoehorn" pleasure, desires, or wants into their business/career, only to find that the business and its fiery demands hog all our time and energy, while our own desires play a thrilling game of hide-and-seek in the background. When we navigate business with our pleasure, desires, or wants LAST, we end up working more, and burnout, overwhelm, illness, show up; we wonder HOW things will ever be different.
When I inquire with new women as they are just joining The Dames® about their work hours, they often mention 40-60 hours a week. However, when I ask if their business or career aligns with their true desires, most shake their heads. Many express a desire to work just 25-30 hours per week and have more fun, but are baffled about how to make that a reality.
If working fewer than 40 hours a week aligns with your desires, it's entirely possible. Not only can it enhance your overall well-being, but it can also positively affect your health. A study by the Ohio State University and Mayo Clinic uncovered that working long hours, especially 40 or more per week, significantly affects women's health, increasing the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart issues, and arthritis.
Hopefully, you gave the questions in our earlier email this month some real thought. For those who aspire to work less, consider taking a page from Jenny Glick, a Virtual Dame in Tubac, AZ, who completely revamped her business by prioritizing pleasure. She dumped the barriers that had held her back for years (all the stories she told herself about how she wouldn't be able to support her family as the breadwinner, or any remnants of worries about what others thought about her), stopped overworking, and abandoned the belief that she needed countless coaches who told her to try every strategy in the book. Jenny employed an exercise from Kasia Urbaniak's book, Unbound, focusing on the book of desires: "If I could have absolutely anything that I want in life and business - all my way - my life would be… /it would look like this…" She designed a life centered around pleasure and launched the year-long program of her dreams and desires, generating $97K in just one week (with an ease-filled launch, may we add!) Jenny now works around 30 hours a week, enjoys flexible vacations, and leads a joy-filled lifestyle.
Take Action: I recommend starting with this 'book of desires' exercise. Set aside 30 minutes to let your thoughts flow freely about how you envision your life. Don't let your inner critic dismiss any ideas; write them down regardless. Your mind tends to resist change, but allowing your deepest desires to surface is crucial. Consider doing this exercise with a Dames Power Partner™ or a business bestie to keep the ideas flowing.
Take Action: Once you've identified your life and work desires, tackle the challenge of overworking with these tips:
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Set a maximum weekly work hours goal, whether it's 40, 30, or 20 hours.
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Prioritize non-working activities in your calendar first, including pleasurable pursuits and personal desires.
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Allocate less than half your weekly hours to client service delivery, reserving the rest for strategic planning and business development. This approach ensures you work less while achieving more
We'll explore more strategies to help you WORK LESS in the coming months—things like how to attract and retain the team members who are LIT UP by your epic mission, setting up the correct systems, processes, and policies that support your mission and can grow with you, and how to trust in the transformation that leads to playing bigger in life and business!
For now, I'll leave you with one thought:
"My goal is no longer to get more done but rather to have less to do." - Francine Joy
