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Episode 325 – My Growth Goal Quarterly Review For Q1 2022

Episode 325: My Growth Goal Quarterly Review For Q1 2022

In today’s episode, I share a chatty Growth Goal update for Quarter 1 of 2022. It’s the third year I’m working towards a monetary goal and it feels so different this year. That’s not because of the results I’ve already created, but because the way I’m thinking about it has created these results. Listen in as I chat about that shift and my personal growth in the first three months of 2022.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

  • What my goal is for 2022 and how I’ve broken my quarterly milestones down
  • How I stopped putting pressure on myself to achieve my goals
  • How to be committed to your goals even though you don’t feel rushed
  • What my business model looks like and why I simplified it

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The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 27 April and closing at 11:59pm New York time on 3 May 2022. To find out more about the program and be the first to know when the doors open, join the waitlist here: samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.

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In this episode I’m sharing my Growth Goal update for Quarter 1 of 2022. I chat about my goal, how I stopped pressuring myself to achieve my goals, how to be committed to your goals even though you don’t feel rushed, and why I simplified my business model.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Hi, and welcome to another episode of The perfectionism project. A podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release perfectionism handbrake, so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the perfectionist getting shit done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business, you can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject.

In this episode, I am sharing my growth goal update for quarter one of 2022. So my growth goal for the year is 750,000 US dollars, which is about a million Australian dollars in revenue over the course of this year. So inside PGSD, we teach that with your growth goal milestones. So every quarter, every three months, you will have a milestone and we tend to do this, the recommendation we make is that each quarter your milestone increases in amount. So for example, if your growth goal is $100,000, in revenue in your business, then quarter one will be 10,000, quarter two be 20,000, quarter three will be 30,000. And quarter four will be 40,000, totaling 100,000, overall.

So that with each quarter, you were able to get out of your own way a little bit more, to elevate yourself image a little bit more and do that work that we do in PGSD to get you out of your own way, instead of expecting yourself to from day one be the version of you that can achieve the goal that you are creating a ladder, creating steps for yourself to get yourself there. So this goal for me is the third year that I’m working towards this monetary goal. It’s so insane how different it feels this year, it just feels so done. And that’s not because of the results that I’ve already created. But just because of the way that I’m thinking about it.

And that is what has created the results that I have, which I will share shortly. But because it is a third year. So if I was to break down my goal, my growth goal for the year, the way that we normally do it, my goal for quarter one would be 100,000, quarter two 200,000, quarter three 300, quarter four 400. And that didn’t make sense, given that $100,000 in a quarter is already super comfortable for me and not really a milestone as such to be working towards.

Which is kind of crazy to say because I think in 2019, it must have been that I had my first $100,000 year I think it was in, I might be getting this wrong. But in April of that year, I had made $100,000 in the preceding 12 months. If you want to know more, scroll back through the podcast, and I did an episode on what it’s really like to make six figures in your business. That was when I hit that goal. I recorded that just shortly after.

So anyway, all of that to say that my goal for each quarter my quarterly milestone is 250,000 Australian dollars, the reason as well. So normally I just have my goal in Australian dollars, but I’m in 200k mastermind, Stacey Boehman’s mastermind. And we do revenue reporting in that mastermind and goal setting that is consistent with what we do in PGSD in many ways and was consistent with the growth goal that I already had for myself for the year. But that is reported in US dollars. So I’ve kind of I have been committed to the goal, the US amounts and PGSD is in US dollars.

So I’ve been like thinking about it very intentionally in that sense. But conversion wise, it’ll be about a million Australian dollars. So that is the goal that I am working towards this year. And so far. So in terms of just to give you an update, in terms of the monetary amounts, the revenue, and also just a rough look at expenses as well. I say rough because these aren’t like the final ready for tax office numbers. But just to give you a bit of an idea about the expenses. In terms of like I think it’s just helpful when talking about revenue, to also mention their expenses because we can think, we hear other people talking about money, that the money their business makes is what they personally get in their pocket. And it just creates this warped idea about business and how businesses operate and what it’s really like to have a business and it can also mean that we might not include certain things in our goals.

So for example, what I’m talking about here is that and this is something that I did that I didn’t really initially in the beginning factor in expenses, investing in myself and that kind of thing. And so I thought, like, I could just replace the money that I like if the business made the same amount of revenue, that I was making it my job as an accountant, then amazing, but I hadn’t factored in that there are business expenses that I would want to be investing in myself heavily, and that kind of thing.

Anyway, I’ve also done previous episodes on that. I think I’ll link it up. There’s one I did on going from full time worked to full time entrepreneurship. And I’m sure within that I talked about that at some point. So in terms of revenue for the quarter, so the first of January to the 31st of March, it was 162,000 and dollars and cents, and then the operating expenses was 51,000. So 25,000 of that was paying myself my salary, and the other 25,000 was contract workers and what else have we got in there? Software subscriptions.

Stripe fees, just a few other bits and pieces like that. So that is where I’m at with the quarterly goal. The other thing I wanted to mention that relates to this is so from now on, there isn’t going to be a payment plan option for PGSD. So we’ll be getting all of the payments in full. But we did our last round with the payment plan in January. And so wait, yes, sorry, in January, I’m getting confused, because I’ve already created all the launch content for April. And it feels like that launch has already happened when it hasn’t.

So we had about half our PGSDer’s signed up with the payment plan option. So that means that that is about, I want to say 100 to 150,000. I mentioned the numbers in the launch update the launch podcast episode they did a little while ago, the two-part series on behind the scenes of those launches. So if you’re interested in what I’m talking about in this episode, you’re going to enjoy those as well if you haven’t already listened. But that is about I want to say 100 to $150,000 in payment plans that is predicted to come into the business over the course of this year as well that was generated in this quarter.

But I’m just counting cash collected just to keep things clean. But in terms of the goal, and my milestone, I didn’t technically hit it. And I think this is something that’s so important to talk about. Because when we’re in all or nothing thinking, we beat ourselves up, especially when it’s like just on a technicality as well. And we shame ourselves for not hitting the goal that we set even when it’s a growth goal, ie you need to grow in order to achieve it. And it’s going to require a lot of courage and doing new things. And putting yourself out there and organizing your mind in ways that you haven’t before. That we shame ourselves for not like achieving a monetary outcome when we have grown so much. And there are very specific reasons I talk about them in PGSD. And in episodes I’ve done on the growth goal of why for perfectionist entrepreneurs.

We set revenue goals for our growth goal that isn’t around the process, but we need to praise ourselves for the process in order to achieve the outcome. And that’s what helps us to get in the growth mindset. And the PDST process really takes all of that into consideration when we have the Growth Goal and power planning and clean rest and falling through 80% of time, resting without guilt and repeating and doing all of those things. We need to balance especially as entrepreneurs, we’re not going to pretend that revenue doesn’t matter. And we’re not going to not look at the numbers just so that we don’t have those thoughts brought to the surface like the revenue matters. That’s the oxygen for the business.

And we need to learn how to have that be important. And also the process of how we get there be important in terms of doing it in a way that’s in alignment with our values where we are showing up for ourselves and honoring what’s important to us and figuring out what’s important to us as well. That’s part of it. But we are not burning out. We are not working against ourselves. We are really having our own back and being willing to do courageous things and be willing to try and fail and try again and fail again. And to fail fully. Not one of these perfectionist fails that we like to do, which is to not really try so we can’t really fail, but to actually give it a full effort and be fully committed and have it not worked out, that is part of pursuing the growth goal.

And so we need to be able to look at the numbers and praise ourselves for how we’re showing up and the progress we’re making. And those little markers of progress along the way, because your milestone and whether or not you achieve that is not the only marker of progress. And is really about this is what comes up in the weekly review. And this is why it’s so important is the third step in power planning, that you are doing your weekly review, the first question of that is, what did you accomplish last week, or like the week that’s just been, the week that you’re reviewing.

Because our brain wants to go to what’s not working, and what we didn’t get done. So we start by asking ourselves, what got accomplished, and being generous with ourselves, even if there were things that were planned, even if there are things that are now just so routine for us, we are praising ourselves for that. And also what worked and the aha moments and the realizations, it’s not just praising ourselves for, “Yeah I take this off in this off in this off”, but what got accomplished, also includes things like I was courageous, and I tried something that might not work. And even if it didn’t, I still tried it. Like those things are accomplishments. And so we need to be on this journey, be so intentional with making our brain pay attention to the markers of progress, that we tend to miss when we are just very focused on like thinking about goals and all or nothing, we either I got all the way there, or I didn’t learn anything at all, or I got all the way to my goal, or I’m never going to make it any of the way to my goal, to really actually look at the numbers, and to look at them without judgment, to look at ourselves without judgment and to also look at ourselves in a compassionate way, like giving ourselves credit.

Often in the PGSD forum, PGSD is what be asking, well, does this count? Or does that count like, for example, if I had a friend who bought my artwork, does that count? Of course it count, and it’s so important to be generous with yourself, it is not going to have you been let off the hook, it’s not going to have you miss something important, it is going to help you continue to show up. And we have to give ourselves that process praise. And we have to really make that part of our routine, which is why we’ve got that embodied within the weekly review.

So in terms of my quarterly milestone being 250,000, Australian dollars. In some ways, I achieved it in the sense that I generated that amount of money in revenue that will be collected over the years. But in terms of cash collected, I know what you’re saying, being generous with what you are counting. But I find that it’s just easiest to look at what has actually come in, rather than just what is promised to come in later. But you can make your own decision about that there’s no right or wrong.

So I didn’t hit my quarterly milestone, and especially if you’ve listened to the January launch update that I did, it will be linked up in the show notes for you. But if you listen to that, I, we had the goal for 100 PGSDers for that launch. And we had 50 or I think it was 51 sign up. And I have never felt it’s just such a different feeling like since that launch, it changed so many things. But a sort of how I showed up. And I think just having such a simple launch really allowed this space for me to do the mindset work. And this next launch that’s coming up, which I will I’ve done a behind the scenes episode talking about letting your work be done and doing your work ahead of time because that’s what I was really focused on.

So I’ll talk about that more in that one and then the next quarterly update that I do, but just really being in the sense of pride for how I’m showing up and keeping things simple and really just having the business be so simple, like painfully simple, so that I can see where my growth is and I can work on what I need to work on. And particularly it’s for me working on selling and copywriting and those skill sets. And the beautiful thing about that is that it means my content has been better and I’ve been creating more coaching tools and just so many different things like it’s been amazing to be focused on what I have been focusing on but it’s come from being committed to keeping my business so simple.

So we are doing four PGSD launches this year, January, April, July, October. Every time there’s going to be a podcast series. A series of emails. Some Instagram posts. That’s pretty much it. Like, it’s not been revolutionary, that’s gonna we’re not going to be on TikTok like, it’s just, this is a plan and we’re working the plan. And by keeping the plan so simple and stripped back, it means that, as I said, I can really like I’m now need to be the one changing instead of what I’d done in previous years. And last year was okay, and I took a bit of time off last year when I had Lydia. But in the years prior, it was a lot of thinking that the strategy creates the results or thinking that the format creates a result.

So spending a lot of time thinking about what platform I need to be on. What format in terms of.. Should it be a webinar? Or should it be something else and just been so focused on the action I was taking, instead of just committing to something simple that felt good to me, and then making that work for me. And so yeah, just a big epiphany, earlier this year, which now feels so obvious, was deciding to just not do webinars and to just sell on the podcast, like and to just like, everyone’s already on the podcast listening. I love recording episodes, I find it so easy to do.

And why, like, it was just really because other people were saying, you should like the experts were saying you should sell with webinars and thinking about your business, there’s in your industry some way that you might be hearing people saying you have to be on Instagram, or you have to be sending out brochures or whatever it is that it’s very easy to get caught up in what the experts in our little echo chamber, saying, and to think that it’s that methodology that creates the results.

And really, for me this quarter deciding actually, it is my brain, I think actually I made this decision in the end of last year, because we planned the that’s when I planned the January launch. But making that decision of if this was like my favorite question. Thank you, Tim Ferriss, what would this look like if it was easy, I would just use a podcast. And I would send some emails. And there would be no bells and whistles, there would be no opt in for the email list. If you aren’t signed up for my perfectionist power up so samlaurabrown.com/power. Everyone loves it and you will do. If you aren’t yet signed up just a little motivational pep in your step every day. It’s a couple sentences long, it’s gonna really help you get out of your own way.

So anyway, for the launches, no opt-ins, no upsell, no down, sell no anything, no bonuses, nothing, just a very simple, very straightforward, set up front end and back end. And that has been so incredible than the other thing that I did that I hadn’t done before. PS, I’m eight years into my business at this point. So if you’ve just started and you’re thinking that you should be at this point, just want to check in on that started in 2013.

So actually, we’re nearly at, we’re at eight and a half years. Next year, it will be the 10 year anniversary, which is fun. So I bought at the end of last year, it must have been, I bought a really cute, like wool calendar from Kmart. And what I was going to do, it was just going to be like our home one that we have on the fridge, I ended up getting a magnetic one for that, just basically. So I can tell Steve, when the coaching calls are that I’m on and like what my work days are and what Lydia is up to like when the swim classes and different stuff like that.

So I bought this and it didn’t end up getting used. And so I had it in my office. And what I did, and I could have done this in my ICal. And I have also done this later in my ICal is that I got my calendar. And I decided ahead of time when all of the launch dates for 2022 would be. So when the podcast series will start when the open cart period where people can sign up for PGSD will start. When the close cut will be. What times that will be happening. It’s all decided, it’s all in this calendar and now communicated where it needs to be.

And that alone like just having that view of the whole year. And knowing okay, this is gonna be in a launch period. This is when we won’t be and also knowing so I’m getting married at the end of June. My 15 year anniversary with Steve, we’re getting married on that day. So planning the wedding in that, I plan in as well, my clean rest, I’ve got maybe five or six weeks of clean rest, and then I worked three days per week. That was actually what came out of January was just after that launch just really been reminded of how I work best. And also, to be fair to myself, as a new mom, that it takes a minute to figure out. I say minute, probably a lifetime, but it takes a minute to figure out how you work best and what you want your work life to look like and what you want your home life to look like, and how those two might meet or might not meet and different things like that.

And just for me realizing that I work best when I have a work day, and so work day, and then I have a family day, and it’s a family day. And I’m not trying to work during nap times. And I have the luxury of being able to have childcare with Sue’s mom and also with Steve, on my work days, so that I can have full workdays for some people, just working during that times is the only option. And that’s okay, and you can make it work and there are many people who do. But I have the privilege of being able to have a full work day.

And I have tried working during nap times, not for me, especially doing deep work. I just with her some naps only being 40 minutes, I meant I wanted to do a lot of busy work, because I didn’t have time to actually get into any of the important stuff, even when I was doing Power planning with that. And I’d have to just have kind of like hovering little blocks that end up getting moved to when the nap times are because they’re not consistent, that I just mentally, it’s just really challenging, if you know, you know.

But yes, having your child go down for a nap. And then knowing you like as soon as they go down, the clock starts ticking. And it might take like 10 minutes to just kind of have a second to yourself. And then that’s 10 minutes of the 40 minutes gone. Or it could be two hours or all of that kind of thing. So having those clear workdays really helped. So I’m working three days per week, that’s my plan for the whole year, except for those weeks that I will have off. But I know exactly when those launches are happening. And that for me created so much clarity about how I can batch create, how I can create content ahead of time, create the launch content ahead of time, what I’ve got going on what needs to get done, what I don’t have time for very important as well.

So that all flowed from my growth goal, which is why the first step of planning properly is setting your growth goal. And then you do power planning and clean rest. So that made such a difference. And just I think that alone has just set me up mentally, for so much growth, and also just a lot of peace around this year that I just feel like and it’s just because I’ve just decided I could have done this any other year. So it’s not like you have to wait till you’re eight years into your business to do this.

The reason that it has been, I think easy to do it now is that I know who I’m helping, I know what my program is, I know, like I’m sold on that offer, like there’s a lot of things that are, I have decided, it doesn’t take a lot of time to decide that they’re just decisions. And I’ve just been so committed to every year making my business more and more and more simple. And so this year, I just felt like, especially with me, knowing that I wanted to work three days per week, and not more than that. It really helped me get clear on what I could commit to and how much I could have on my plate and what I wanted to create in that time and how I want to achieve my goal with working three days a week and solving for that.

And that has been the result of it. And it’s meant that my growth where I need to grow has become so much more obvious than it was before. And also being in the 200k mastermind and just investing in myself and being committed to doing the work and to self coaching and getting peer coaching and getting coaching the last one and using the resources that I have and that I’ve invested in and like putting my blinkers on. And yet just keeping things simple, keeping things constrained has been such a huge part of it. And then I’ve in that launch debrief. I talked through a lot of the self coaching mindset work and everything in that and a big thing that has come off the back of that launch and I think it’s because I launched from a place of feeling sufficient and that I already had enough and trust me, this is one of those things that if you are the especially if you’re not yet at making $100,000, that this will sound like Well, yeah, of course, you’d think that you had enough once you’ve already hit that goal.

But it’s very easy to think about a million dollars the same way you think about 100,000. So when you think about 10,000, that the numbers can change, and the mindset won’t change unless you do the work to change it. And so previously, I was in the previous two years where I made about getting probably these numbers around about 400 to 500,000 Australian dollars in those years each year, that I had a whole lot of thoughts about, it’s not working pretty much that whole period, it’s not working. It’s not enough, I’m behind was a big undercurrent.

I also had a lot of helpful thinking, we don’t have to have perfect thinking, to be able to achieve stuff. And to be able to make money, have a lot of people, all these different things. It’s not all or nothing. But I didn’t, I had a lot of thoughts that were scarcity thoughts, still amongst all of that. And I really did the coaching on myself to get to a place of sufficiency and to get to a place of, I’m the creator of my results. It’s not that, you know, I can hope for it. And I talked about this in that podcast episode that before believing in my goals felt like believing that the weather’s going to be good on a certain day, like believing it’s going to be sunny on Tuesday, like I can really get myself to believing that. And I can look at previous you know, trends and see you on Tuesdays often it’s sunny, I live in Brisbane. So we have a lot of sunshine here.

But you can go back and look at trends for evidence and but I still can’t control if it’s sunny on Tuesday. That’s kind of how I felt about my goals. That’s really how I felt about my goals that I could hope and I could look at evidence to try and bolster that hope. But it was at the end of the day hope and really just… I talk about it again in that episode. So if you want to know more, go back and listen to that. But I was really in a place of sufficiency, and did the work on my mindset so that I could launch from a place of I already have what I need.

And because I launched from that place, not only was it really successful, I didn’t hit my goal, but it was very successful for so many reasons. And then since then, the way I’ve been thinking about it instead of okay, well, but I still need to do XYZ in order to hit my goal for the year it was, okay, cool, that goal has paid all the operating expenses for and the revenue that’s gonna be coming in. That’s all of our operating expenses covered, including my salary. Now, let’s just see what we can do. And let’s have fun with it. And this is going to be like I’m going to grow so much. And I’ve got my like, very simple growth assignment in terms of these little launches. And this is the plan and my three days a week to work within.

And just it’s I could have, again, it’s not the numbers that changed anything that I could have thought that way. In all that like at least the last two or three years, that okay, cool. And now let’s just do it for fun. But it was really this constant comparison of needing like, there was always more money I had to be making to feel that way. Like it was very conditional sufficiency, which isn’t sufficiency. Whereas now, I’ve just changed the way I’m thinking about it so that it’s okay, cool. Like, I don’t know what’s going to happen for the rest of the year. But I am going to be able to show up because I’m telling myself a different story instead of okay, well, we have to do that now for three more times, and are we going to be able to find more people who and that was everyone who want to sign up, like it’s so easy to think those kinds of thoughts.

But I’ve really been doing my own coaching and getting coached on being in other thoughts. And one that’s really helped me is that launch has covered all of our expenses for the year. And now I’m off the hook. Like I don’t feel any pressure with this upcoming launch to like have it be a certain number. I’m very committed to the number, but it’s not pressure and there’s a distinction to be made there. And I think before as well, it was like this needing to look good. Especially I’d say the last couple of years that I wanted to be seen to be achieving my goals or not even necessarily achieving them but to be making more money than I had previously.

And I was just thinking about this today actually, when I was watching a peer get coached in the mastermind. And he was talking about how he felt this pressure to especially as someone who is for him selling business related coaching that he needs to be making more money and more money more money every year, so that he can continue to use that in his selling and so that he doesn’t feel like a fraud and that kind of thing. They weren’t his words, just my interpretation.

But that when, like, there’s so much power in me being a leader who has big goals and is committed to them, and who sometimes doesn’t achieve them, but is there for myself when I don’t achieve them. And I pick myself back up, and I keep going. And I think that’s such a more powerful example, then, oh, hey, I’m Sam. And I achieve every single goal I set without exception, and I never stumble, I never have setbacks. I never have perfectionism come up, and I just set a goal and achieve it. It’s kind of like he does on he’s never procrastinated before that they’re like, why would you do like, it’s not helpful to learn about how to stop procrastinating from someone who has never done it before.

He might be able to look at, okay, what are their thoughts and borrow some of them. But it’s not going to be as helpful as someone who is walking a similar path and who is going on that similar journey, and you can really resonate with what they’re sharing. And you can see the potential of where they were and where they are now. And so I think I’ve just really reckoned with that in my brain and just seen how kind of if I, again, this isn’t to say, I’m not so committed to my goals, because I am, especially this year, I think other years, I’ve been like, Yeah, I’m kind of committed. This year, I’m very committed.

And also, I know that there’s going to be so many lessons that come from myself, and also that I can share on the podcast, if I don’t achieve my goal, and that it’s not going to make me any less of a coach any less of a leader, any less helpful in what I’m sharing. And so if you have been maybe, with what you’re doing feeling like it makes me kind of think of like a personal trainer who feels like they need to have the perfect body in order to get any clients that it like when we create that expectation, then it’s kind of like where like that personal trainer is then kind of subliminally saying to the client like, you should have the perfect body at all times to be good enough, because that’s how the PT is thinking in their brain that they have to have the perfect body to be good enough for the client.

So yeah, just stuff like that, that I think is super interesting. I can’t remember exactly why I started that point. But that is something else that I have been working on and just having that container for the year and the sufficiency around it. And I’m just very clear on what I’m doing. Again, this is because it fell from the sky, I created it with decisions with my growth goal, with power planning, with clean rest. And with following the PGSD process inside the PGSD, also, we are opening again very, very soon, the 27th of April is when the doors will open again. So if you are not yet inside, go to samlaurabrown.com/pgsd to find out more to join the waitlist so you can join us when the doors open. And they will be closed on the 3rd of May at 11:59pm. New York time.

So with this year with the first quarter actually, particularly I mentioned the three work days, that that has been revolutionary for me to just really own that that’s how I work best how I mum best. And just for me as well like getting specific with it. Working on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, I found has been better than some weeks. I’ve done a tuesday, wednesday thursday from how the PGSD coaching call on Tuesday. And working three days and then having four days off. And then three days, I find that I want to be a bit more switching back and forth between family days and then work days.

So for me and those coming from my weekly review, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, generally speaking, is has been really great. And has just having those clear workdays and just and this is the big thing, telling myself I don’t work in nap times. I just don’t. It doesn’t mean that on times I’m doing like wedding planning stuff or this is another thing has actually haven’t written in my notes. But I can’t remember where I last talked about this. It’s somewhere on the podcast, I’m sure or at least on Instagram somewhere but doing up a room of the house per month. I haven’t like followed powee planning with that. And so it has just not happened. I’m sitting in my office on the 31st of March.

And we’ve got the desk which is my old desk. I’ve got a few IKEA things like one in the wardrobe and one next to me the alux drawers or whatever. That has been really helpful to actually have proper storage in my office, which I haven’t had before, why not? I don’t know, I hadn’t realized what I was missing. And I have my old chair and we’re getting the sheer curtains. So we’ve got block outs, because this will be a bedroom, probably at some point. And she is going in and she is going in tomorrow. But actually, I’ve ordered a big glass magnetic whiteboard that’s going to be on the wall in front of me, Steve’s idea, and I loved it, I was like, “What do I do with this wall”. So I can’t wait to have a big whiteboard, and to also be able to teach of that and all of that kind of thing.

So that’s there. But I’m still trying to figure out what to put behind me, as in I haven’t decided, and I could just decide what to put behind me if I want to have shelves. Or if I want to have a gallery wall, they’re the two things I haven’t decided between all of that to say that I haven’t figured out/decided, is actually going to do an episode coming up soon about deciding versus figuring out because we save figuring out when actually we could just decide. So I haven’t decided on a rug yet, either. And if I’m going to get a different desk, I’m thinking of maybe getting a dining table to put in here as my desk, and potentially a different chair, as well. And really just obviously having a lot of plants in here, too.

So it’s yeah, my plan was to do this in February didn’t get done in March. And it’s this is why I read power planning, and having it be something that we can outline things specifically have it be super workable, but I haven’t followed that I’ve just had it like in more like a time blocking approach in my clean rest. And that hasn’t worked. So that is still a work in progress. And I can’t remember why I got into that side to engine.

But what I was gonna say so the three work days has been really good. And then so in January, I did the PGSD launch. And then I also did the 200k mastermind event, which was overnight here for three nights I attended virtually, it was in Kentucky. So it was I think it started 11pm my time, and went till about 9am. And then I slept during the day. And I that was so manageable because it was easier than doing newborn sleep and all these different things. But that was incredible. I had so many takeaways from that experience. And yeah, I’ve just I don’t really know exactly what else I have to update you on. I think I have shared the bulk of it.

And that I’m really feeling in such a place of sufficiency and service and resourcefulness and commitment. And that doesn’t mean there aren’t times where I feel undecided, confused, overwhelmed. Actually, I haven’t been in overwhelm very much at all. That’s not true. I have unrelated to business more so in terms of like planning the wedding. But then I got that into Asana, which is what we use for business, I created a personal one for me. And I outlined like everything that needed to be done. And then when I was going to have it done, and giving myself realistic deadlines for things. And then that really helped things because I wasn’t thinking oh my god, there’s 20 things to do. And I have to do them all today. And I’m not sure if I’m going to remember them all. And when do they need to be done. I’m not sure what’s involved in that I just spent some time got it in the calendar, slash in my little Asana with the deadlines. And I’ve been following along with that. But I did feel a bit overwhelmed about that in the beginning.

So that is my update for the quarter. And I am still to do my Quarterly Review. So if you’re a PGSD, make sure you get that quarterly review done for your growth goal, know that it’s very normal to have resistance around it. And even if so we recommend you follow the prompts that are in PGSD under the quarterly review. Can you do that just set a timer for 30 minutes and see how much you get done. But if you want to chat about it, maybe you want to just record a voice note for yourself or maybe you have a podcast and you want to share with other people or whatever it can be helpful just to chat it through and see what comes up for you.

And yeah, this I guess as well is really a quarterly update in terms of the business because there have been a lot of exciting Liddy related items that have happened this quarter. She’s nearly nine months old. So there’s a lot going on in terms of crawling and standing and teeth and sleep and giggles and so many amazing things like that. And it just gives me so much more motivation. When I’m working like on my work days, I am just focused and committed. And that’s not because of her, it’s because I changed the way I’m thinking about it.

And I’m just that done, because I’ve decided, actually, I think that’s what I was going to leave back to you before. I decided that I’m not working in naptime. And it’s just not something that I’m doing. It’s not something that I’m entertaining. And so that has allowed me to be so much more present, when it is my family time, and so much more present when it’s my work time. And this is a whole reason that I really started to take clean rest seriously, which I believe was around. I mean, I first started dabbling with it in 2014, as a uni student, but in 2018, is when I started to do it in the business pretty sure from memory.

And that was because I felt like I was half in half out like I’d be at my desk, and I would be working and then I’d be putting on a load of laundry and it only takes a minute when actually takes 15 minutes. But it only takes a minute. And then I just be like half in half out. And how you do one thing is how you do everything. And that’s really how we’re showing up in my business, I was half in half out. And I wanted to be fully in and also fully in my personal life as well.

So once I started really having clear time around like this is when I’m not working in this as when I am working. And there’s flexibility in that. But there’s so much freedom in that as well. It’s so clear to everyone else. It’s so clear when I’m making plans with other people, it’s so clear when I am like when I’m hanging out with Lydia, and we’re just playing or walking or doing whatever, that we’re swimming in the pool that I’m not feeling any like guilt about I should be working. And when I’m working, I’m not feeling any guilt about I should be with Lydia because I’ve decided what I’m doing. And I’m following my plan that I had. And so that has been so helpful. And there have been so many sweet moments and challenging moments and all the things as well, baby-related.

But this update is really about the business and my growth as it relates to that. But obviously, we’re all very multifaceted. We’ve got a lot of different things going on. And I love that the work that I’m doing with my growth goal is directly impacting and benefiting. No negative impact. Benefiting my like every other area of my life, my family life and personal life like my relationship with Steve, with Lydia, with family, with friends. It’s my health. That’s the other big item.

I’m also trying to think like why have I mentioned, like what episode what I’ve mentioned these other things, but maybe some PGSD calls, I can’t remember, but got a Peloton, mid February, also celebrated my 31st birthday in Feb. I got a Peloton. And I love it. It’s so great. And I’ve been doing little spin sessions, most lunchtimes on a work day. And that’s in my power planning to do that. And if Lydia wakes up really early, and I can’t get back to sleep, I do a little spin session, and other times as well. But that has been really great.

And also with that as well. I’ll just wrap up on this, but something that I noticed when I had decided that I was going to get a peloton, plan about them for ages, I have always loved spin class and all of that. And it just I know, like, from my experience that I’ve had with having Lydia and just working from home, it’s just to I am someone who can work out from home and can get myself to do that quite efficiently and consistently and easily. And that’s hasn’t always been the case. But I have learned that and having a workout that I can do at home and do it during a nap time has been really like has been a game changer.

But when I was looking into getting a peloton and researching them, just noticing that I was coming across articles as you will if you Google looking for peloton, people will be like here’s a hack of how to get this bike from Amazon and then get this touchscreen and it’s $600 or whatever instead of two and a half thousand dollars or whatever it was. And just noticing that even though we have the money and we decided to invest the money and Steve was like whatever you think I support, and I was still like, Oh but, you know, I should have this kind of coupled together version of a peloton, when I actually really wanted the peloton, and just a big thing that was so transformative for me.

Mindset wise, particularly money mindset wise, was just actually getting what I wanted, and not making any excuses about it. And when anyone makes comments about it, because it does look like a fancy bike, to just be like, Yeah, that’s the bike I got. And just Yeah, letting like letting yourself get what you actually wants, instead of a downgraded version, just because of what you think other people might choose to get for themselves at it in your circle yourself, or what you think you deserve, or different things like that, that in this isn’t about having it be a big ticket item, either.

It can be as simple as, like, if you go out for lunch actually getting what you want. Even if it’s $5 more, instead of having to go for the cheapest option, or whatever it is, there’s so many little habits as well as we’re working on our money mindset, that kind of come with us like something that I started doing a few years ago now was paying for parking. And as a uni student, I had a like, I would not pay, I mean, sometimes actually, I did have to pay for parking. But that’s definitely only when I needed to be there at a very specific time. And all the free parks would take like I would walk about 20 to 25 minutes to avoid needing to pay for parking.

And I just at some point decided actually, it’s worth it me paying for parking. And even if other people still avoid paying for parking, I’m going to just pay for the parking. And it’s actually pretty nice when like, you are able to do that. And you give yourself that gift of things. And it makes me think of an example I heard from Tim Ferriss that he talked about how it must have been when he was a student that he would buy like the one or two ply toilet paper. And he just was still like a someone who’s making many millions of dollars, buying this really cheap toilet paper out of habit and just paying attention.

Like even just now having a think about other things that you are buying that you’re buying the downgraded version of something that is important to you like there might be things where you’re like, actually, it doesn’t really matter to me about the toilet paper. So I would just keep buying the two ply. I’m not talking about that category of items, it’s the things that you actually want that would actually make a difference to you. And you are compromising on them when you don’t need to be compromising, it’s just out of habit or your old self image, I give you permission to upgrade those two.

And that’s another thing this quarter, we also hired a cleaner. And that was within that realm as well. And having someone just doing three hours a fortnight to do a few things that we don’t want to do around the house. Particularly me, I don’t want to be cleaning. I’m not great at it either. And I do. I mean, it’s cathartic organizing things, but cleaning showers, as much as I could tell myself, that can be cathartic too. Also going for a walk, spending time with Lydia, doing those things. And just noticing too, like, it’s one of those things that I just felt like well even know, you intellectually know, like, there’s still such a message of mums doing cleaning. And that’s what moms do, and just how I still felt pulled into doing that, and have just decided that I’m going to help.

And I do that in my business. I don’t do that in my personal life. But doing three hours of cleaning with a baby takes a whole day. And so when I just did the math on how much it costs to get a cleaner, which isn’t much in the scheme of things, and how much like how many days that gives me with Lydia that I like to be fully present with her and family or whatever else it is that I have that many number of hours or days throughout the like, it’s just a no brainer. So if that’s something maybe you’ve been thinking about it, maybe you didn’t know anyone else personally has one. I just want to really encourage you that as well to ask for the help you need without compromising to get what you actually want.

And especially a lot of times we’re just compromising when literally like, it’s not like there’s another person involved. It’s we’re just compromising with ourselves and just telling ourselves, we’re not worthy of the full version of whatever it is. Maybe it’s investing in yourself. In a program like PGSD. Maybe it is buying clothes that actually fit like maybe you want to buy like instead of wearing your old clothes as your pajamas, you want to wear really beautiful pajamas. But you’ve been telling yourself that we can’t do that because you have this old shirt. And I mean if you want to sleep in that, and that’s totally fine.

But if you want to sleep in beautiful pajamas, buy them. So with that said, I hope you enjoy this episode and all my side tangents as I usually go on them. So I’m sure by this point, you are more than used to them. So if you have enjoyed this episode, please take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram. I’m @perfectionismproject. I hope you’re having a beautiful day and I will talk to you in the next episode.

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Author: Sam Brown