The Lifestyle CEO

How to Be Present as a Busy Entrepreneur | Work-Life Balance Tips for Freelancers

• Christina Gough & Dr Katie Stirling • Season 4 • Episode 12

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Discover how to achieve true presence and work-life balance as a busy entrepreneur or freelancer. In this episode of The Lifestyle CEO, Katie (Clinical Psychologist) and Christina (Marketing Expert) share their personal strategies for staying present an in the moment while juggling business and family life.


Key topics covered:


  1. Creating effective work boundaries when working from home
  2. Scheduling techniques for better work-life integration
  3. The importance of quality vs quantity when it comes to time with family
  4. Managing digital distractions and implementing phone-free zones
  5. How to maintain routines while travelling or dealing with time zones
  6. Tips for scheduling self-care and personal time as an entrepreneur


Want to design a lifestyle that works for YOU? This episode provides actionable strategies to help you be more present in both your work and personal life, while building a successful business on your own terms.


Subscribe to The Lifestyle CEO for weekly episodes on creating the life and business you want!

Website: www.lifestyleceo.co.uk
Instagram: @thelifestyleceo.podcast
Christina: @itschristinagough
Katie: @drkatiestarling
TikTok: @thelifestyleceo.podcast

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Lifestyle CEO, a community designed for women looking to take their life into their own hands and redefine what success looks like for them. I'm Katie a clinical psychologist and couple therapist, I'm passionate about connecting you with the tools you need to create the life and relationship you want, and I'm Christina, a marketing and business expert who has built her life around giving herself and those around her the ability to choose what their lifestyle looks like for them.

Speaker 2:

Together, we have created the podcast for women just like us who are looking to redefine what success looks like for them and enjoy a lifestyle that they love. Hello, I'm so excited to see you back in Bali.

Speaker 3:

I know and I'm in daylight, which is a much nicer time to record a podcast, and it's not ridiculously early in the morning for you. I think, yes, this is better.

Speaker 2:

I'm loving that part. Actually I didn't like the ridiculously early. It wasn't even that early, but just kind of getting up and going straight into recording is a totally different feel to like doing your morning routine and then like jumping on and not feeling so rushed. So it's really nice that we're in the same time zone for sure.

Speaker 3:

I'm very happy to be back as well. I just feel like everything is just back to normal, I think yeah, it's just so nice to be back. I think you really take for granted sometimes your life set up until you're like kind of removed from it for a couple of weeks or two months in my case, and I absolutely adored being in England. But there's certainly nothing like a good routine to keep you on track and motivated, I agree.

Speaker 2:

So how are you finding the transition back?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, good, I think. Obviously jet lag is a bit insane.

Speaker 3:

We're eight hours behind in England, so it is really like a full day to night transition which has been a struggle for the last couple of days, but I think we all I mean the boys fell asleep at like 3pm yesterday, wow, and I was like please don't wake up at midnight and expect to be getting up. But luckily we all got through it, so they're back at school and I'm just, yeah, feeling much better by having some sort of midnight and expect to be getting up. But luckily we all got through it, so they're back at school and I'm just, yeah, feeling much better by having some sort of routine and normalcy and a bit of peace to myself to get my brain into gear work-wise as well. So, yeah, it's been good.

Speaker 2:

I'm finding I'm going through a similar transition. Obviously not from moving I've gone through that transition but the transition back to school and just back into your normal kind of routine. You know, and I think it's one of the things I've been really reflecting on is the importance of maintaining that presence that I felt was really built into my life in Bali and sort of creating structures around that at the moment here. And yeah, I was actually out paddle boarding with my daughter yesterday on the waves.

Speaker 3:

Oh, my dream.

Speaker 2:

So beautiful. It was like 30 degrees here flat water just clear, like total turquoise clear water you could see the water.

Speaker 3:

Oh my God, that sounds amazing.

Speaker 2:

It was so good. And just sitting out on the paddle board, you know, you're just so present, completely present, like there's nothing you can do, there's no drinks to get, there's no, you know, sunscreen Put all the sunscreen on no phones, you know. So you're just kind of present in the moment and it really made me reflect and think about how important that is and how much I want to focus on that. This year.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love that. I think that was a big learning for me, like I've certainly brought some learnings back from my time in England and sort of realizing, as you said, the kind of maybe the things I took for granted being in Bali by being able to be present, but also understanding that actually, you know, setting up specific routines that mean you can allow yourself to be fully present in whatever it is you're doing is really important. And I think you know, for me I tend to work at home, which is okay during the day because obviously there's no one here, but then, when it comes to meetings and the children are back at home, because obviously I'm working in the evenings, I really need to push myself to go out to work, which is I don't know why, because I actually really enjoy going out, but sometimes I feel guilty going out because I think I should be with the children, but then when I am here I'm not actually paying attention to them anyway because I'm trying to work.

Speaker 3:

so it's just like, and I think it means you can really give yourself, give your all when you're at work and then you can give your all when you're at home, and it just really helps to segregate those two kind of lives, I guess.

Speaker 3:

Um, and I certainly notice a difference when I'm out working, you know, because you can really get into that headspace instead of darting around like right, quick meeting, and then, oh, I'll just quickly make some food for the kids or I'll quickly go, you know, and it just doesn't work.

Speaker 3:

And I think, actually, that time you're spending with them, it's much more important for the quality of the time as opposed to the quantity of the time, for the quality of the time as opposed to the quantity of the time. And you know, I think I don't know why because if we were in England, I would be working nine to five. Obviously they'd be at school for some of that, but it's not like they'd have access to me during the day anyway. So I think it's okay for me to feel like okay, maybe my kids won't get to see me every single hour for the day, but that's quite normal anyway, anyway. So so, yeah, I think that's a really good learning for me from certainly my time in England. But just like you say, as a general year focus, I think it's, it's.

Speaker 2:

I agree I don't know something about Bali life, where you do spend so much more time together. So it becomes, which is a great thing it becomes so normalized. But you're right, then you kind of have to get into the routine of recognizing that when we don't have that, that separation, we aren't really present in either.

Speaker 2:

So either in the workspace or in the family space and it's interesting, you know, when you're talking about the time with the kids I was thinking about, um, there's one of these things I talk about in perinatal psychology is around this idea of like a family recipe and having this one-on-one time with your children and it doesn't have to be big amounts of time. It can be half an hour, it can be one hour, but trying to have that time each week where it's just completely undivided time and that has such a greater impact than spending lots and lots of time together just doing for them, because it's about being with them in the moment.

Speaker 2:

It's about being super present with them and doing what they want to do and being engaged the whole time, because, you're right, there's so much time that we spend with our children, but we're doing for them the whole time.

Speaker 2:

So we're cooking, or we're cleaning, or we're getting them ready for school or trying to get them out the door or getting them into the car or onto a bike. Yeah, it's the doing with and in that you don't have that quality time where you can really be present together and just have those conversations that come, you know, like when you have, when you're completely switched in to your children or your partner or your friends, whoever it may be.

Speaker 2:

You get to have those really enjoyable conversations and it is because, really, you're so present in the moment with them.

Speaker 3:

I love that and I definitely think that's something I really want to get like integrate into our weekly schedule, because it was funny. I was talking to someone I can't remember who it was but it was over Christmas. I was talking to someone I can't remember who it was, but it was over Christmas and she has a rule that, like, as soon as you walk in the house, all the phones go in the drawer and like, obviously, there's no phones at mealtimes.

Speaker 3:

There's no phones in the bedrooms, like they all stay downstairs in a drawer, and I just think that's such an amazing idea because we've just lived, we're living in this society where it's like we're supposed to be contactable all the time, but that's just not a necessary thing and it's certainly not a healthy thing. I'm sure, and I think obviously my kids aren't old enough to have a phone, but I really want to start integrating these practices so when they do get to that sort of age, they understand how to use technology like healthily. So if we can kind of start implementing these practices now and, you know, really kind of be present at meal times and not sort of rely on these devices and be on all the time, because it's not healthy and I'm terrible at this, like I'm just constantly checking my emails, constantly checking that I'm replying to everyone, and I just think that's just like bizarre behavior. I just don't think we need to be online all the time.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if I'd call it bizarre if most of the population are doing yeah, but if you think about it, but you know, yeah exactly but it is becoming the norm, and I was just laughing. I think I was watching.

Speaker 3:

I was watching um sex in the city last night and I was just laughing about because obviously they don't have cell phones or mobile phones.

Speaker 3:

I've turned American and I was just thinking, god, wow, I wonder what that was like.

Speaker 3:

Like not to be able to just pick up the phone and ring someone to make like, because you know they'd be on their phone.

Speaker 3:

But, yeah, and I think this sort of presence is something that we just are losing more and more. And, like you say, that quality time we spend with our children, our friends, our partner, whoever it may be, is just so much better when we're not being distracted by doing 100 other things. And I think, when it comes to children especially I mean, you'll know more about this than me but for them to understand like they enjoy a routine and it doesn't really matter what it is, I think if they understand that, like mommy goes out to work and when she's at home she's with us, like that that's fine, it doesn't matter if you're not around them all of the time. Um, so, yeah, I definitely think that sort of presence is such an important skill, especially as freelancers. You know, like we're we're juggling so many things and you tend to kind of try to juggle them all at once, I guess, and multitask, and I think learning to kind of keep things separate and focus on one thing at a time is such an important skill.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I agree, and it's not even the work-personal life divide, like I think there's a challenge in that. There's like a benefit and a challenge in that working um in your own business or on your own terms, because you do have that flexibility that sometimes you can actually get caught a little bit in the trap of trying to blend it a little too much and on having healthy boundaries.

Speaker 2:

but I think also even within the work, you know that you can tend to jump around from different tasks to task and kind of go oh okay, someone sent me this email, oh, I'm over here getting distracted doing this and then you know I'm over here doing this and I've got five different tabs open and you know 20 different windows.

Speaker 2:

So it's all happening and I think even in our work it's really about kind of scheduling out that time and being more organized so we can be present in each task and we know when we do that, we're more effective. But, we all struggle with it, don't we Like? The multitasking is both, you know, a benefit, but it can also be a real challenge and a real downfall, I think, in our work.

Speaker 3:

I think it requires such an interesting level of skill to be a freelancer Like you're not kind of given the tools of perhaps, like you would perhaps get if you're in an office, like even you know for me working in marketing. You're dealing with multiple clients, multiple projects at a time, which you would do if you worked in an office, but you're given this really clear structure of what time you have to do it and when you're off out of the office.

Speaker 3:

That's it you're switched off. But as a freelancer, I think we tend to expand our time or like expand the task to fit in with the time we have. So like I could work 24 hours a day, I think, if I was given the chance, but it would be so inefficient and so ineffective and I just think. But it's kind of up to us to schedule our days, which is as you say, a beauty and a curse of their life.

Speaker 3:

Because I think if you're kind of inclined to work more, which is certainly my thing, then I would just fill my time with working and actually you need to be able to set the parameters around. No, I'm not working right now. I'm with the children or I'm at a dinner or I'm going to socialize or something, rather than feeling like we need to be working productively all the time absolutely.

Speaker 2:

You can just get stuck into that thing of like oh, they'll just take me, I've got five minutes here, I can just jump online and and do that instead of just going. I've got five minutes, I can just jump online and do that instead of just going. I've got five minutes, I can just sit, yeah.

Speaker 3:

What a novel concept.

Speaker 2:

I could just sit and like be and just relax for five minutes.

Speaker 3:

And it actually comes back to one of those we talked about this projects time isn't you know, although I think the problem is we tend to be paid by time sometimes, so you feel like you need to get the most out of whatever time you have, but actually we forget that being able to think and really like kind of you know, sit on a project and really give it some time and space to kind of culminate in our brains, I guess, is as important and as actually sitting and doing the work. So I think, again, being quite strict with giving yourself that time is really important as well, but it is. It is just more up to. We don't have a boss necessarily telling us how to schedule our time or what we should be doing. It's really up to us to be quite strict and giving ourselves enough time to do both or do all areas of our life properly, essentially.

Speaker 2:

And I think that's where the scheduling and the organization becomes really key, doesn't it? Because, you're right, you don't have you go into a workplace and even things like you know you have to be there a certain time. You're kind of planning out your transport there you know you have lunch.

Speaker 2:

At a certain time you might have a break. I don't know if that's scheduled. You have meetings. There's all these kind of time posts that are kind of set in your day that you can't really shift and when you are working for yourself you have so much flexibility.

Speaker 2:

but it is about how do you figure out the times that work best for you to work, how do you schedule out those times in terms of tasks and also, you know, how do you manage it when you want to have a bit more of a blend between the personal and the professional. So for a lot of people who are choosing to work for themselves or freelance, they are choosing that for flexibility, so their workday may not be straight eight hours. It may be like taking the time in the morning to go to the gym, then, you know, coming into doing some work, maybe even doing something in the afternoon and, like, as you do, doing the night kind of work, but it is, I think, when you're doing that becomes even more important to have those boundaries around the downtime versus the on time.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely, and I think so. One of the things that I've got really good at is scheduling meetings across like two days of the week, because otherwise I think we find ourselves doing a meeting and then jumping back into a task doing another meeting. So I have two days where it's literally back to back for eight hours, which is a bit much sometimes.

Speaker 1:

I need to work on that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and maybe allowing gaps in between, like I was talking to a girl and she only schedules meetings for like 45 minutes and then she'll have 15 minutes before the next meeting, which I actually really love, and I'm going to try and implement that this this year. I mean, obviously it's also you're kind of dependent on who you're working for. You can't be too demanding, but I certainly think as a freelancer you are able to be a bit more specific about your own needs, for example, um absolutely, which I think is a real benefit.

Speaker 2:

We do that in therapy obviously, like we have our set times and then in between you are you know a lot of therapists do like just 10 minutes but I just find that's not long enough.

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

And it creates a bit of a scheduling nightmare, but I always found like actually making longer breaks is really important, because 10 minutes ends up being when you write your notes, so, or if you're in a meeting, you wrap up the kind of meeting stuff and the tasks.

Speaker 2:

But you do need a little bit of just going for a walk, making a cup of tea, just sitting for a moment before you go into the next thing and I think that's equally important in a meeting is just kind of to let go of the last meeting and those tasks and take the time to. You know, do the, the micro actions that you need to do. Obviously there's going to be big tasks you can't complete in the moment, but just to get off those little things like, oh, I just need to shoot off that email, get them done, and so then you move into the next meeting and you can be fully focused on that not holding all those little micro tasks in your mind yeah, and I think it's all about like I mean, we talk about this a lot.

Speaker 3:

It's kind of planning out your week before it starts as well. I got an amazing journal for Christmas, obviously another journal to add to my collection called the head plan, and it's a really good way of mapping out each day like what you need to get done, because I think, again, it can be quite overwhelming when you're sort of looking at, right, I, I've got multiple clients, I've got multiple tasks, multiple life admin things to do, multiple things to think about for the children whatever it is.

Speaker 2:

Oh, the life admin.

Speaker 3:

You haven't even spoken about the life admin Right and it's like and that's the sort of stuff that sits rent free in your head for years but you're and you kind of never address it because that's just part of life or whatever.

Speaker 3:

But actually that is something that's so important to map out as part of your week. I think, again, as freelancers we're not just looking at like work and life. You kind of have to schedule them together and really look at like what works for you, like you said, in terms of a day structure. Like you said in terms of a day structure. So it might be that you say you know if you have to go to the doctors with the children or whatever, like you have a certain time that that would work for, or you have a specific, like Friday afternoon, where you just get through all of that life admin, you know, and just really blocking it out, because I think even just having it mapped out on paper can make your brain feel less overwhelmed, because you know that it's all scheduled out, you know you're not worrying about when am I going to fit that task in, because you know you've got it scheduled for Wednesday morning or whatever absolutely.

Speaker 2:

I think that really works for everyone, whether you're more sort of anxious about those things or you're more avoidant around those tasks, you know. Either way, I think when you write it down it does reduce the anxiety, because what you're actually saying is like I've got a committed time to complete this so I can let go of it and I can focus and be present in the moment.

Speaker 3:

It's so funny. I was thinking about this yesterday because, coming back from England, obviously jet lag was pretty crazy and I did not sleep on like the night after we landed. I just could not get to sleep and I was just, and then the boys couldn't sleep either. So we stayed awake for the entire night and I and by the next day I was feeling so anxious and I was putting so much pressure on myself because I was just like I have to be on top form by Monday. I need to be back to normal. I need to be doing this.

Speaker 3:

And I was just like and I just sat there and I was like god, christina, it's okay, you've literally just flown across the world with two little children on a 20-hour flight. You're completely switched in terms of time zone, like give yourself a slight moment to just catch up, you know. But and then, luckily, last night I had the best sleep in the world. I think I slept for a solid like 15 hours, like feel amazing. Now, that's amazing, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And the kids, they did wake up about midnight and they were like it's time to get up, and I was like it is absolutely not the time to get up. We will not be doing that, um, but they've. They've gone off to school, happy as Larry and feeling really good. So, yeah, but it is just so funny that anxiety is always about worrying about something happening in the future and again that comes back to just being present, like if I just focused on getting to sleep instead of thinking about the million things that would go wrong if I didn't sleep. It's just like, it's so silly. So, yeah, I think, um, presence even in trying to sleep.

Speaker 2:

you're not alone in that and then there can also be anxiety about not getting to sleep it's not silly, because you're not alone in that. And then there can also be anxiety about not getting to sleep and you know the kind of fear around, like how I'm going to feel tomorrow if I don't sleep. But it just becomes you know, just becomes a cycle. So it is really important to be able to switch off and if you are that person that's got the mind racing to write it down. Leave it there.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, that's a good idea.

Speaker 2:

And then, you know, try and focus on getting back into that relaxed state, which isn't easy, particularly for women of a certain age. Oh okay, yeah, why is that so when you start to go into perimenopause?

Speaker 1:

which you can start.

Speaker 2:

I think people don't understand that it's not something that happens in your 50s, like the. The hormonal changes actually happen quite early, so start to happen in your 40s or even. Um, I find working with women, obviously after having children, the disruption that happens in your sleep during that time because you can have years right of having to get up depending on your child's sleep pattern, um, so it can really disrupt your, your sleep patterns and it can take some time to get that back under under wraps yeah I think that's really interesting actually, and I definitely think women have a pretty tough end of the deal here, because we I think the amount of research done on this is probably not enough in terms of like how hormones can just really affect your ability to complete stuff.

Speaker 3:

Like we essentially have four different lives in a month, right, like if you're looking at the cycle and stuff, it's like I'm a different person every single like week. It's just like sometimes I'm really productive and like high energy. Some weeks it's just like, oh my god, I can barely like function and I just think even that we need to kind of schedule for in a way like not in a kind of type a way, but sort of. I listened to this podcast the other day and it was all about living by your cycle and I guess this sort of is different depending on what age you are. But there's certainly ways to look at how do I feel and how can I make life work with that, rather than trying to work against it and be productive 24 hours of the day, seven days a week, 30 days of the month, and I really like the idea. So it's and again, it's quite tricky obviously, because not everyone's on the same cycle schedule as you.

Speaker 2:

But it all comes back to your own individual needs, doesn't it? And whether that be a cycle, or whether that be because of your lifestyle, or because of the tasks that you need to do or key periods in your life, it's about knowing your productive times Exactly, and I actually think that's a really good point because we look at scheduling our weeks.

Speaker 3:

So we just assume that each week will be the same, each day will be the same, but you can also look longer term, sort of looking at the month and scheduling you know, even just things like beauty appointments, Like I feel like that's something that's so important for me I'm sure most women enjoy this but like that's a real self-care action for me and sort of like just something I really enjoy. But sometimes you forget to schedule them and then it's sort of this mad last minute rush to be like oh my God, I really want to get this done, but I just don't know when I'm going to fit it in. So actually scheduling those monthly, so you know when they're coming up and maybe it is in the week where you have low energy or whatever, yeah, and just looking at stuff like that and scheduling, like you say, a family weekend away perhaps or I don't know some sort of activity, and just scheduling it ahead of time so you don't feel like you're constantly just trying to catch up with booking everything in. I love that.

Speaker 2:

I think also, sometimes it can be that inspiration can't it. So it's sort of like for me if I were to do something like writing, writing like that would be a really good time would be after something like that, after I've gotten away, so when you've just got a bit of a fresh perspective to do to spend some time writing.

Speaker 2:

So I think it is about knowing, yeah, like what's happening in your life and you know, if you know stuff's going to be hard, like maybe it's not the week to set big goals but it is the week just to do a bunch of little tasks that have been on the list for a while. But it's really knowing yourself, knowing your lifestyle, knowing how you can fit in the things that work for you around your lifestyle, really isn't it.

Speaker 3:

I agree, yeah, and I just think that is just to sort of bring it back. That is really the beauty of kind of designing your own life and living life on your terms.

Speaker 3:

It's not about, you know, always achieving these humongous goals and having the time to do it. It's actually just really taking advantage of the fact that you can schedule life in a way that fits with you, and it doesn't mean you have to be uber productive all the time and blah, blah, blah. It is about taking these moments to really look at what is important to me and how can I therefore make that work in my time. That's available and I just think people need to yeah, you know, if you are a freelancer and you're able to take advantage of that, really sit down and think what is important to me and how can I schedule that into my week, month, year and, like you know, really kind of put it all down on paper and it just makes you feel so much better, I think and I love what you just said there, because I think what you're doing, too, is starting with the lifestyle is.

Speaker 2:

So, you know, we talk about goals and setting up like the tasks that sit underneath those goals. It's much better, isn't it, to start with what's. What are my life to look like this year, what are the key things that I want to do in my life this year? So, whether that be big adventures or whether that be, you know, I want to have a ritual around Friday afternoon, doing this catch up with my friends, or I want to do, you know, big hikes on Saturday morning, or whatever it is.

Speaker 2:

But then once you've scheduled that in, then you get a clearer understanding of what the rest of the week will look like, or what each month will look like, based around those key things and then defining the tasks from there, rather than in the reverse, where you try to go oh, I've booked, oh I can't do that. I've booked 20 meetings and I can't do that've booked.

Speaker 1:

I can't do that. I've booked 20 meetings and I can't do that long weekend or I can't do that.

Speaker 2:

It's actually starting with well, what's most important to you in your life, what do you want your life to look like? And scheduling out that week and then fitting the rest around that and deciding those key dates around that.

Speaker 3:

And I think that makes you really it's really helpful in trying to be present, then, because you can. I feel like the more organized I am, the more present I am, because I can just sort of release all of this stuff instead of thinking, oh I need to plan that, oh I need to do that, oh I need to, you know, and it's just constant, whereas if it's, I love the idea of really mapping out like what do we want to achieve in a day, a week, in a month, in a year? And and, like you say, thinking about, I want to be, I want to do hiking every week, like I really like the idea of scheduling all of that in as well. So I'm actually going to do that after this. I'm like I always schedule.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I'm taking I'm the worst at taking my own advice because, um, but yeah, really sort of I love that saying which is about life happens while you're busy planning, because I do think we're constantly thinking into the future. So even if you plan something and then you're thinking about the next thing while you're in that thing that you planned, you're just kind of constantly not in the present moment. So I think planning a bit longer term and then just living by the plan for maybe a couple of months can really help you just be more present in the moment, and then you can look back and think, right, did I enjoy that? Did I enjoy how I'd set my life up? What things do I need to shift, what things can I move? And you're just sort of constantly evolving it but really being able to enjoy it while you're in it.

Speaker 2:

I love that. It's like planning to be present.

Speaker 3:

Yes, exactly in it.

Speaker 2:

I love that it's like planning to be present, you know, but it's so true because when you do that planning, you can be more present. And I think the other thing I really love that you were talking about is the idea that we just stick to it, because I agree we can get stuck like over planning, over organizing, and that just takes up so much time, and then we're never actually actioning it, so we're never actually present because we're just replaying and I was thinking I was thinking about that with the gym because I think I set myself up with a really good routine and I'll do it for a couple of weeks and I'll be like, oh, I should probably change this up now.

Speaker 3:

And then I look back and I think if I just stayed consistent with that for a good few months or even a year like the success isn't born overnight. It really is in the habits that you do daily and you need to stick at them way longer than you think like. I think people think well, I certainly did. I think we assume that if we do it for a good week or two, we're like we're going to really see all these massive changes, whether it's in work or fitness or whatever. But it does take a long time and it's just sort of like it just has to become part of your lifestyle rather than just always about reaching the next set of goals or something.

Speaker 2:

I absolutely agree and I think when you actually give it time to see how it pans out, then you can really learn and reflect. So I think when we jump from one thing to the next, we're sort of a bit more reactive. It's sort of like oh, that didn't work. Okay, I quickly got to change that. But doing it too quickly, we don't take the opportunity to actually really give it a chance and then to learn and say, okay, well, this piece of it didn't work, why didn't it work? Maybe I just need to tweak this slightly rather than changing my whole plan or changing my whole direction.

Speaker 2:

So I think you know just slowing things down and that's part of being present. Right, it's just slowing things down, taking the time and then taking those opportunities to reflect and think about what worked for us and what didn't, and then implement change if we need to, and if we don't, we don't.

Speaker 3:

I agree because I think we can get a bit addicted to change, I agree, and like striving for more doing more changing. It's like let's just enjoy the journey while we're at it. So I mean, I'm the worst for this, but that is really one of I think it always comes back to just being present. Stop thinking about changing stuff, stop thinking about the future. Just put a plan together and stick to it, and then you'll be able to be present, you know isn't, you know?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I think the challenge for us is that, because our work lives do change drastically, or like even living lives, you know, I'm gonna be back in Bali a couple of weeks with you, so which country we're in is changing. So it is. You know. For us, there is another layer of just trying to maintain some of those routines as we move to different places, as well as, of course, you do need to adapt to the new situation, because there's just different setups.

Speaker 3:

Different things work, but trying to maintain the things that we can, the non-negotiable locations yeah, I was talking to my sister about this because I am the worst like if any. You know this as well because if someone comes to visit me or if something changes in my routine, like everything goes out the window and I just and I was talking like I just can't function when my mum and my sister came to visit and I was like I just can't do anything and it was just like I get so overwhelmed, which is fine.

Speaker 2:

I think my way is like I. I kind of predict, well, not predict. I know it's going to happen. So I just want to say to you hey, let's like schedule some stuff before and then let's just like not try Like, let's just like blanket that time out, because otherwise, like I know, I'm going to be getting set up to do something and then you're going to cancel last minute. So let's just not have that happen.

Speaker 2:

Let's just not even try, try and do it but that's about knowing what works for you, right and like that and it is hard when people come stay, and I know the same with me. Like it's, it is hard when people come stay to stay in your routine because there's other people in your space and things change. But it is a little bit about just knowing yourself in those in those contexts.

Speaker 2:

But I think also like we have also both learned that sometimes we do need to get a little bit better at sticking to the plan yeah, because this is our life, as well like our life is moving. So you know I could say, oh, let's not record next week when I'm doing this.

Speaker 3:

But it is sometimes actually saying you know what I need to maintain in some areas for me and it's about priorities, I think, and it's about like non-negotiables and I think actually we don't have that many non-negotiables in our priorities, I think, and it's about like non-negotiables and I think actually we don't have that many non-negotiables in our lives.

Speaker 3:

But I think, if you have like, for me the gym is very non-negotiable, I know if I can get to the gym, I will be okay and like that will set me up in the right day. Recording this is a non-negotiable every week. You know, obviously, prioritizing work, whatever it is, but I think we don't have millions of non-negotiables. But I think if you stick with three and then, whenever you're, wherever you are in the world, whatever's happening, if they have to happen each day or each week then you know that everything will be okay, basically.

Speaker 2:

So you're saying the podcast makes sure everything's going to be okay.

Speaker 3:

Oh, my God of, of course, I feel like the things that we talk about on the podcast are really useful for our own lives as well, so we always come away like last time when we're talking about goal setting and now I'm like right, I'm actually gonna go and plan out my, um, my lifestyle things that I want to do for the, for the month or whatever.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, love it you know what it is. It's, um, both of our reflection time, I think. Yeah, you know. So it's a time to reflect. We're doing it together, but it's it's, it's easy, like we don't over prepare for this, we jump on, we have a conversation that we would have if we were together, and that's also a nice thing.

Speaker 2:

I think, is because we are, um, you know, moving around both in different directions at the moment, that it's sort of this set time where we have, if we were together and that's also a nice thing, I think is because we are, um, you know, moving around both in different directions at the moment that it's sort of this set time where we can catch up. But also it does it kind of slows you down and makes you reflect a little bit on, yeah, what is happening in my life at the moment and how are things working and how can I change things. So it is a really nice place to do that. So thank you for that thank you, amazing.

Speaker 3:

All right. Well, I loved that I'm gonna go and implement many of the things I've talked through.

Speaker 2:

We've talked me too big takeaway be present, be, present be present.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that is the word. Maybe that's my word for the year I was thinking about that too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was thinking, I quite like that present presence.

Speaker 3:

yeah, I All right. Well, lovely to catch up and see you again next week. See you next week, bye.

Speaker 1:

You're ready to create a life on your terms. Join us every week and make sure to like and subscribe to keep up to date with new episodes. All the links to keep in touch with us are in the bio.

People on this episode

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Christina Gough

Host
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Dr Katie Stirling

Host