5 Ways to Protect Yourself, Prevent Burnout and Feel more in Control.

21 Jun

I know first-hand just how hard it can be to spin all the plates and how hard it is to say no things or put ourselves first. I also know that YOU are central to the success of your business and if you’re not in a good place, then you can’t show up in the right way and you won’t be able to add value in the way you want to.

This is why I’m a massive believer in the importance of 'putting your own oxygen mask on first' and in this week’s podcast, I share with you my 5 Ways to Protect Yourself, Prevent Burnout and Feel more in Control..

Get under your own skin. Find out how you work, get to know yourself, and what makes you feel good or bad. Identify your red flags that you can look out for.
Get clear on your boundaries and notice where you’re spending your time and energy. Are you prioritising the right people and projects?
What are your non-negotiables? Work out what you don’t want and it will help you know what it is you do want.
Never underestimate the power of saying ‘no!’ How to work out what is important right now and how to make the right choices to bring the biggest impact on your life and business.
Set yourself up for success and work out what you need to have in place to be able to show up in the right way and feel good..

And finally, I share with you how to tap into your own secret weapon, your inner WonderWoman superpower and learn how to protect your energy throughout the day.

Resource Links:

https://www.iamlucyrennie.com - free downloadable resources, other episodes and more information about how to work with Lucy.
Listen to more episodes here: https://www.iamlucyrennie.com/podcast
Buy my book here - htps://www.iamlucyrennie.com/book
Join The Future-Proof Club®️ here - https://go.lrcomms.co.uk/future-proof-club
Come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you in my FREE Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommunicatewithPurpose

Hello and welcome to the Future-Proof Your Business podcast with me Lucy Rennie.
I’m a massive champion for small business and I’m on a mission to help you to love what you do and to build and grow your business in a way that works for you and feels good.
I’m convinced that the best way to create a successful and sustainable business is to do it from the inside out, which means that it has to start with you, the business owner.
In fact, I believe that business really is all about people, and if you want to future-proof your business and make an impact then you need to get really clear on why you do what you do, create the best experience and then build relationships and trust.
In this podcast, I want to share with you as much of my knowledge, expertise and experience with you, as I can, as well as some behind the scenes stories and strategies from my business, and I’ll be having conversations with and learning from some amazing business owners and experts so I can give you everything you need to stay focused, on track and feel more in control on this rollercoaster ride that is building a sustainable business.
Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Future-Proof Your Business Podcast. I'm Lucy Rennie. And today, it's just me for a change and I wanted to talk to you about a topic that's kind of close to my heart. And that the more and more that I work with other business owners that I kind of learned to understand myself and I'm on this roller coaster ride of running a small business, I realised just how important it is who to look after ourselves and
Lucy Rennie 01:45
really kind of get to know ourselves and ultimately put on our own oxygen mask. So I'm going to talk to you a little bit today about the behind the scenes of that and just some things for you to think about. I'm going to give you five tips or tricks or I suppose five exercises really for you to take away and spend a bit of time, either on your own or maybe with your colleagues or your family and just think about what this means for you. At the end of it, I'm hoping it's going to really help you to be more aware of how you're feeling and how you can show up in the best way for you for your business and for all the people that you want to support or look after, I actually can't believe today as well. It's why I'm recording this. I think it's like the 16th of May, which blows my mind, actually that we're already in the middle of May, and nearly halfway through the year halfway through 2023. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm still, if I'm really honest, I think I'm still back in February 2022. I just don't know where the time has gone and I think that's just, it's just reality now isn't it that the world is just moving so quickly, and there's so many things going on. But taking that time sometimes to just to stop or slow down and be really intentional about actually noticing where you are and reflecting on what you're doing and sometimes even just asking yourself what's going well? or not so well? or celebrating the wins or just actually just taking some time out to enjoy what's going on, enjoy your family, enjoy being present and even sometimes just enjoying the fact that it's a blue sky like it is today and there's a bit of sunshine and just getting some time out. So that's where I'm at. I'm feeling a bit reflective, and I thought today I would talk to you about one of my favourite subjects now because I've realised just how critical it is to everything, to all parts of your life. There's even a huge chapter of this in my book, at the end of the book, actually which kind of sets sets the scene for you moving forward in terms of being a business owner, but I think you can apply this to, to whatever you do in life in terms of making sure that you know yourself and that you can show up in the right way. So I suppose really, it starts with that old age expression, which is, you need to put your own oxygen mask on first. And it's funny because I suppose really from grass fed for nearly 10 years, I was literally jumping on and off aeroplanes. That was my life, it was my world as I travelled around different steel centres all around the world and was visiting lots of different teams to my old corporate role so I think those instructions that they say where the stewards and stewardesses talk about, the fire exit and the life jacket under the seat and, you know in the event of a of a depressurisation of the cabin and an oxygen mask will fall down in front of you. Today I actually know it off by heart in English, probably in French, probably in Dutch

Lucy Rennie 04:59
And I'm sure in other languages as well, just because I've heard it so many times, and I used to sit there thinking why? Why would you do that, of course, you wouldn't, of course, you'd put, if you were with kids or whatever you'd put their oxygen mask on first, because you're gonna want to look after them first. I never and really, genuinely really understood that until I started running my own business and then it all kind of clicked into place, just because it is so massive. On this rollercoaster ride, there's so many things that you have to juggle, just whether that's, you know, in your own headspace in terms of spinning all those different plates, but also, if, if you're like me, and you've got kids, and you've got a dog and family and friends and a life outside, you've got to kind of make sure that you, you know, you're not dropping the ball on things, that in itself just takes up so much energy. And actually, I've come to realise, especially working with lots of different corporate teams and different small business owners that it's really essential that actually, you've got to look after yourself, and you've got to put that oxygen mask on first. Because if you don't, actually you can't look after anybody, and you're no good to anybody. So that's massive for me. So if there's one thing that you're going to take away from this week's episode of the podcast, you can almost stop listening now, it's just actually just go and look after yourself, just take some time out for you and think about what that is. Because ultimately, whatever the reason is that you get up in the morning to run your business to grow your business to do what you're doing, you are central to that success, you're central to how your business runs and how it moves forward, so if you're not in a good place, then you're no good to anybody, whether that's the team, your customers, your suppliers, your partners, but also you're no good to anyone at home or or in and around, you know, in your world. So, yeah, it's massive. It's really important. And I remember reading, I think it was ‘chill preneur’. I can't remember which book it was years ago, as I was just kind of starting out on this journey and it was Denise Duffield-Thomas and she was talking about in one of her books, she was talking about the story of the golden goose. It kind of resonated at that point. But it's only really when I started really thinking about it and obviously with Elia, I've been telling her that story and she's watching the movies and talking about it. That's when you realise what that story actually means. And I think it's Denise that talks about it in her book, but I thought it's a great analogy, where you show you know the story of the golden goose and if you don't go and google it and read it. But it's all about a poor farmer who's trying to look after his family, he's not really got any crops and he's not got any money. He then finds this goose, this golden goose, and this golden goose every morning wakes up and lays a golden egg, the farmer can't believe it. That basically it's provided now if it's families able to exchange that for food for, for houses, for cows, for whatever it needs. Problem is that in the story, the farmer then gets greedy, and decides that actually, he doesn't want to wait every morning for the next golden egg actually, you'd rather have them all at once. He wants to get more from this golden goose so basically kills the goose and cuts it open and he’s expecting to find a whole load of golden eggs inside there and endless supply and actually there's nothing so what he's done as he realises and that's the moral of the story is actually is you know, is cut off his own supply is cut off his own oxygen mask is actually stopped the source of richness and wealth and, and protection for his family and that the moral in this sense, or the takeaway for us is actually, and this is what I'm really is lashing out, you're looking at me funny until they explain what I mean is for me, if

Lucy Rennie 08:59
you're running a business or you're managing a team, or you're leading a project, it's you are the golden goose, and we've got to protect you, we've got to look after your energy, we've got to make sure that you're in the right place to be able to show up and manage whatever it is that you're you're driving in the right way because if you're not in a good place, and you're not able to enjoy what you're doing, because maybe you're low on energy, all those things, then you're not going to have the impact that you would have if you are in a good place. So, with that in mind, what I thought I'd do today is a bit of a check in really, we're hot, we're nearly halfway through the year and I just thought it'd be a really good time to encourage you, like I did at Christmas when we looked at the wheel of life and we checked in with ourselves and what we needed and things (if you haven't, if you haven't listened to that episode, and you haven't done that exercise, then I'll pop the link in the show notes anyway) but go back and listen to that because that's a really great exercise as well and Advertising with what I'm talking about today. But I wanted to take you through five key exercises or five key things to think about that you can, like I said at the beginning that you can do either by yourself, no phones and get some time out, or maybe share it with your family or with your team or your colleagues and have a bit of a discussion about it, I like to do this within my mastermind and get people thinking about what that is. And it's just sometimes good to remind ourselves as well and we had a lot of fun doing this at the retreat that I organised in January as well, it was interesting actually just to see the extent of where people forget to check in with themselves. So yeah, so this is me today, I'm giving you some food for thought and I would love to hear how you get on. If there is anything that comes up for you, please do get in touch and let me know what that is.
So number one, or the first thing to think about is, is just simply to just start to get under your own skin. And just really check in with yourself and start to, to really understand or, or notice how you work, get to know who you are. So how are you feeling? What does the things make you feel when you're doing them, whether that makes you feel good, or whether it makes you feel tired, or whether it makes you feel frustrated, just really taking the time to notice, to be aware and to get to know yourself? So it might be thinking about, you know, what are those activities, those things that you're doing that you can kind of get hyper focused in and lost in just because you actually, you know, it's so interested in it, or you just you it makes you feel good, you love doing it, and you get intrigued by it? It's interesting, and all those things, what, what are those activities? and then the same for the things that maybe don't bring you joy, or maybe don't get you excited. So for me, that's an Excel sheet, or maybe doing some admin or bits and pieces, just notice what they are. And notice, maybe it's people that you're talking to, or maybe it's a different time of day. So for me, for example, I know that my brain works at its best when I've got space in the morning. So I know that I really like to get up and have some time for myself to enjoy my 600 coffees before I can speak to anybody. Then I'll look after the kids and I'll do the school room. But then I'll come back and actually really enjoy having that space. So in my diary, what I've done is I've blocked out and rarely have any meetings whatsoever before 12 o'clock, because I know that I like to have that headspace and that time and that space free to be able to work on client projects, or be able to get my head down and do some research or to really get stuck into to what I'm doing that really works for me. In the same way, I also really enjoy evenings. Sometimes if I've got things that I need to get done, and actually I quite enjoy sitting when everyone's gone to bed and just kind of cracking on with things in the peace and quiet, I can get quite lost in what I'm doing. Whereas in the middle of the day, it's more that my energy might be lower, or maybe after lunchtime, it's maybe I'm a bit sleepy. So it's about getting to know ourselves and recognising maybe that cycle when we feel good, but also the activities and noticing ourselves and identifying what could be some red flags warning signs. I always used this analogy as well with my husband Paul, we talked about and it's ever since I had Ellia when I was super tired and just kind of running on fresh air really. But we talk about like a battery, a phone battery, how you can see the bars going down, can't you so if I kind of say “I'm feeling I'm on I'm on red” it means I'm on that last bar of energy and I really need some time out I need to know it means I need to go and recharge my batteries. So it's understanding what are those signs are the things that you know, it might be a Twitch, or it might be that you get a bit grumpy or it might be that you just you know you're hungry, maybe or whatever it might be just really recognising how you feel in noticing what comes up for you. And if there are any red flags, again, the other side of it is you know, understanding what are those things that actually show you that you are in a good place and that your energy's high.
So exercise number one, get onto your own skin and recognise who you are and how you work and really get to know how you function a bit like you know, like an engine in a car. It's the same isn't it? We need to know whether we need to put petrol in or we need to change gear or we need to know when to go down or speed up those kinds of things. So understanding who we are.
The second point is about thinking about boundaries. And this is a lot easier said than done. But I'm gonna give you a couple of things just to think about because I think it is one of the key things, especially when you're running a business, and you've got all these different plates to spin. And, again,

Lucy Rennie 15:20
I'll hold my hand up, I'm rubbish at this! It's something that I've been learning and applying and testing and relearning and reapplying, again, for a long time, but it's really important, and it can make such a massive difference. So here is an exercise that I've seen a couple of people doing, and actually Kim Raine came into the Future-Proof Club®️ not long ago, and did an exercise with the members in there about this. I'm just gonna adapt it slightly just for the purpose of this podcast. But I will put a link to Kim in the show notes, because she's got a more thorough version. But basically, what she was asking you to do was to draw three circles on a piece of paper, so one small circle, and then around that circle, the second circle, and then around that circle, a third circle. So you've kind of got three different circles, if that makes sense and rings around it. Kim was asking you to think about if you were to kind of divide or or categorise the different people in your world. And I think she goes into five or six different categories. But for the sake of this exercise today, and just to kind of give you an example of what I'm trying to get across, I'm just going to talk about three, but really identifying in different categories, who those people are, and then it allows you to think about, okay, how should we be prioritising our time and who should be spending, who should we be spending most time with or who should be maybe giving more of our energy to so in the, in the first circle, right at the centre, want to call that our inner circle We can think of this in two ways, we can either think of this just in our personal life, and so our inner circle are those people who are really close to us who we can, you know, we want to spend all our time with or we want, we love dearly, or we cherish and they're the most important to us, that's our inner circle, personal life. That might be the same in our business life. Or it might be those clients that we really want to sort of look after and give our energy to, because that's the agreement that we've got with them. Or it could be your team that you want to really prioritise them. So think about who comes first in that, if you had to prioritise those different categories of people, and then the second loop, where if that's in terms of your personal life, then think about kind of your good friends, those people, you know, your besties, or those people that you know, you enjoy being with, or that you think highly of or that that matter to you and again, in your business life (if you could see me now you'll see I'm playing around with my hands) I'm sure laughing at me behind the scenes. But in your business life, it's more about maybe those clients that are they're that need your support that you know, you have a great relationship with, that you enjoy working with, and that deserve that, that's, you know, that priority. Finally, in the third circle, if it's a personal life, or even sometimes business life, it's this is more about those ones who are passing by who were there who people that you know, maybe it's at the school gate, or maybe it's at the gym, or maybe it's people that you've had a bit of a connection with, but it's not necessarily somebody that you want to spend or all the time with, or maybe they're not as important to you, as your children or your family, etc. So a great exercise is to identify where those people sit within their circles and actually put some names to them. So you've got some concrete examples, and then just notice, ask yourself, are you actually prioritising those people in the way that you've drawn? Or you've put down on paper? So are you spending the right amount of time that you are spending the most time with those people in the inner circle? Are you giving your priority or are you giving the most attention to the people in the inner circle? Or actually you are spending maybe too much time or much more time with those people on the outer circle? And, does that feel a little bit out of balance? So there's no judgement here whatsoever, and you don't have to share it with anybody but just notice what that shows what that brings up for you what, how it makes you feel and just sometimes I think I believe that by noticing these things, and by being aware of it helps us to start to make the change and start to make more informed decisions or start to have a bit more confidence in in deciding you know what we say yes to or no, and we're going to talk about that in a second. But just sometimes taking stock and recognising what's going on, allows us to start that or change that pattern and you So make it make a difference and think about doing things in a different way. So That's exercise number two.
Exercise number three, is what I call non negotiables. And this is one of my favourite topics. And it's something that's really helped me over the last eight years to, if not longer than that. I maybe wasn't aware, I didn't call it non negotiables before that, but it's really helped me to make decisions to check in with myself and to work out where I'm going and what I want. The reason why we call it non-negotiables, is because sometimes, actually, it's really hard to say what you do when someone says, If you had a magic wand, what would your life be like? I don't know about you, I find that really tricky sometimes to think, what is it that I do want? I just want to without being cliche, I just want to be content and really enjoy what I'm doing and work with good people and not have any worries, and all those kind of things and provide my family, but actually flipping it and reframing it and starting with actually our non negotiables allows us to capture things. So a non negotiable is something that is for you then becomes really important that you just not maybe going to accept anymore, you don't want to have to put up with anymore that you don't want to have in your life anymore. Something that actually you're not going to bargain with, you're not going to make any compromises on. So that could be in your business that might be, I've done this before where I've come to, you know what, I don't want to work with people who don't value what I'm doing or aren't committed to improving or making that change or, or doing a good job. Or maybe it's just that actually, I don't want to work with people who don't pay my bills on time because for me, that's part of a mutual respect that actually means that we should be looking after each other. It might be that you don't want to work with that kind of person anymore. It might be that you don't want to work mornings, or have any meetings in the mornings, like me, or it might be non negotiable is that every, every Sunday, and you spend time with your family, and nothing comes in with that. So, for me, it's about having an evening I walk up the hill with Kylo and getting some fresh air and headspace. That's a non negotiable for me. So making a list of all those things that for you are just starting to think actually, these are the things that are really important to me now that I don't want to have to deal with. And it allows you to think okay, well, if you don't want that, what does that mean? What do I need to be? What do I actually want? And what's the opposite of that? Or how can I pivot? Or how can I adapt what I'm doing or my way of working or my business to make sure that actually I'm taking into account these things that I've just recognised and identified and captured for myself. This is what happened to me and lock down. If I'm honest, when I pivoted the business from having an agency with a team that was doing all the implementation, I realised that actually I didn't want to be doing that anymore. Partly or mainly because I'd sat down and made a huge list of all the non-negotiables and things that I didn't want, or that was really important to me moving forward. And that's when I went and did the coaching and mentoring qualification and shifted the business over to much more about strategy and partnering with SMEs and supporting them bridging the gap between the SMEs and small business owners. So it's such a powerful exercise to do.
Number four is from that. So leading on to that is kind of really working out what it is that you do want and what I want to say here is actually learning to prioritise learning to make choices that will help you really make an impact in your life in terms of what you do and you don't want. And a lot of that just comes down to the fact of being able to say no, because I think it can be the hardest thing in the world, especially if you're a people pleaser, especially if you're in a business, especially if you're a parent or you just want to look after people, don't we? I think sometimes we think that actually we're not very nice if we say no, because we don't want to let people down and very often that what happens is there's a shift of power and you lose your power because actually giving it away to people, because you don't want to upset them or let them down or you don't want to be seen as that person who's not willing to help, and being able to understand that actually, you can't you can't possibly say yes to everything. Actually by saying yes to some things, you're actually saying no to other things which might be going back to that question number two, which was about boundaries and where we place people. It might be that you're saying yes to far too many yes’s to people in the outer circle, and not being able to then have any time or real time to spend with those people who you really do cherish or who are most important to you in that inner circle. So these are all links but it's just these are things that I've learned and that I've been applying in my life that sometimes you just think oh my goodness, what have I been doing? it really helps you to

Lucy Rennie 24:54
make those decisions. I was listening to a podcast the other day between Simon Sinek and I think it was Seth Godin. They were talking about this issue about the fact that lots of people want to say yes. And you know that they want to please everybody. I think it was Seth Godin who said that. “For him, he always thinks of it as if you're saying yes, actually, you saying yes to trouble, because actually, you're saying yes to something that maybe you don't want to do so what happens is, it ends up getting you in trouble because later down the line, either you go and you show up but you're not in with the real energy because actually, you don't really want to be there. So then probably you're letting somebody else down by the fact that you've got to commit to go into this event or are doing whatever it is, or it's taking time from something else. Or it might be that actually, you want to get out of it so you have to let them down later and just end up causing trouble, whatever it might be by saying yes to the thing that you really don't want to be doing.” So they were talking about the power of saying no, a lot more often. I think it's Steven Covey as well as no, that says, but actually by saying yes to one thing means saying no to other things, which is what I was saying earlier. So just sometimes reframing it, and allowing yourself to think well, actually, you can still be nice and say no. Just because you can't, you can't and I think it's that boundary thing again, but just actually acknowledging the fact that you can't possibly be doing everything and that actually, I've noticed as well that I think there's actually almost more respect comes or is given to you, when you can say no, it's almost like people are, oh gosh, well, yeah, she wants to know what she's doing. Or she's in control. Or she's got a lot of self respect, or she's clear about where she's going, or he's going. And I think owning that and being able to say that is really important. And there's ways as well to be able to do that. So sometimes it's just about buying yourself some time. So maybe say that I'm not sure I'll check my diary or not sure, I just need to check in because I feel like I've got something else planned on that day. Or, or even just actually said, you know, what, that's I'm so flattered that you thought of me, but actually, I'm committed to or I'm working on a different project at the moment, I need to get my full time and energy to and I wouldn't be able to give your project the time and energy that it deserves, so you can still let people down or you can still say no in a, in a way, that's gracious, and you can still be nice, you don't have to be horrible about it but it just allows you to keep focus and also for your business, you don't want to be distracted or diluted on lots of different things, especially when you know deep down that you don't want to be doing them. So it does make you feel better when you can actually stay, stay in control and be nice and still say no.
My fifth exercise today. And it's bringing all those things together.I've called it a secret weapon, actually what I mean, is thinking about what you need. So bringing all that together, what do you need to be able to show up in the right way to make sure that your energy is in a good place for what you need to do and that you're protecting your health, your inner circle, your priorities, your business, your family and all those good things What are the things that you need to do to make sure that you can show up in the right way and so a couple of things to think about are and it will all be different. So this is where getting under your own skin and understanding what it is that makes you tick and what you know, what you need to be feeling good is important. So for me, I'm just going to share with you my things and you know and they're not rocket science. I know that if I want to be on form and in a good place and feeling motivated because it all impacts doesn't it how we're feeling and emotions and all those things and that all has an impact on our day to day and what we're doing in our relationships. So for me, I know the three main things really and that's eating well, that I'm making sure that I'm drinking a shitload of water. If you know me, then you'll know that it's fizzy water, so I probably drink about four litres of sparkling water a day and if I don't, then I can feel it. So definitely water and eating well. And sometimes that means having a piece of cake, that doesn't mean having vegetables all the time. You know and checking in with myself and knowing what I want. And particularly if I'm tired, then I know that it's more a good bowl of pasta that I need, but whatever that might be. The second thing is getting out and getting some fresh air. Whether that's walking for a good hour with Kylo up the hill, or it's going for a run. I know that when I'm really low, that's the thing even when I'm shattered. I know that actually I need to go for a run because actually what that does is that it energises me, it recharges my batteries and it's just that headspace and I think it's blown off the cobwebs. So running. And then the final one is a no-brainer, it is sleep, I know that I need to get a minimum of at least six or seven hours of sleep every night, for me to be able to function properly and to be on it and showing up in the right way and having being in a good place. So a combination of all those things really is really important and I don't get it right all the time at all. I don't think you do, because I don't think it's easy to do because of just life and running a business and kids and all those things. But I just think sometimes being intentional about it and being aware of it. And again, if you've got we talked about those red flags, if I know that I am feeling it a bit, or I'm tired, or maybe I'm getting a bit as my mum used to say getting a bit crotchety then and, and maybe missing one of those things, I might take myself off for a run, or I might just actually go to bed early, or whatever that might be. So those are the sort of the things that I know I need to kind of slap my fuel. So I wonder what they are for you? they might be completely different that might be downtime, running might be the last thing you want to do might be you know, watching your favourite movie or whatever, that listening to music, or I don't know what, whatever it might be, I'd be interested in actually, if you want to share that with me.
I also want to just check in and just give you a think about what's the support that you might need. That's one of the main reasons why I created the Future-Proof Club®️ and I have my two mastermind groups for business owners and teams is because I'm such so aware of actually the support and the community that we need, and the fact that you know, having those people who do know you and who can check in with you and who can sense when things maybe aren't as rosy as you maybe make it out to be because we all know don't want to run a business. Sometimes it's easy to say things great when actually, you know, maybe you do want to just curl up and go to sleep. So finding the right people to surround yourself with, that might even be a coach or a mentor, it might just be you know, like with me my best mates Paul, it's, it's just being able to chat and have those conversations. That's really, really important. And then finally, 10 We were laughing about this at the retreat in January, but I was sharing with people my favourite programme used to be when I was little I don't if I'm sure my age now, but on a Saturday morning, there used to be, it used to be the Monkeys, it used to be the Littlest Hobo and then there was Wonder Woman. So not the new modern marvel Wonder Woman who is super sexy in the film, it was the Wonder Woman TV series. I loved it, I absolutely loved it. She had these amazing gold and bracelets, kind of that were clipped onto her wrists, they were basically bullet reflectors, so she'd if anyone was shooting at her, she'd use them wrists and be able to use the to ping ping and deflect these bullets that were or whatever was being thrown at it. This is one of the things that I try to get people to visualise in their head is finding their own Wonder Woman sort of secret weapon, and how to kind of make sure that you can protect your energy and not let things you know, get absorbed by you or come inside your, your energy. So thinking about if there is a client, that's maybe not the easiest to get on with, or maybe it's something that's going on in your person, whatever it might be, just try and think about how you can deflect the bullets or whatever's getting thrown at you with your special bracelets, or maybe you've got a different superhero or whatever that might be, I'd love to hear actually what that is.
And then finally, the last piece of advice. It's not really advice, it's just an idea to have in your head. Have you seen those amazing transparent big blowup balls where you get inside them with your legs out? I've seen hen or stag do’s where you can have a game of football or rugby. And actually everybody's wearing these massive balls so that you kind of put your head in it. It is on your upper body and you're running around, you've got your hands out. But actually everything else is enveloped in this big zorb. If you haven't seen it, I think it's called the zorbs. Google it and have a look at it because it's hilarious. But what happens is actually when you play in football or whatever game you're playing and running or whatever, you bounce, you're bouncing off each other and nobody can actually get to you inside because you've got this huge, big inflatable, transparent ball all around you, that's really kind of what I try and encourage my clients and even even sharing this with my daughter the other day, but I think it's just imagining actually that we've got this protective shield it's a bit like in Star Wars as well, isn't it we've

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got like a full shield around us that stops anything from getting in. And just sometimes having a shower in the morning and just closing our eyes and thinking about this and imagining that layer of protection around us allows us to step up for the day and not necessarily absorb everything that's going on and look after and protect your energy and show up in the right way, which ultimately, is going back to that keeping your oxygen mask on first to make sure that actually you know, you can, you can look after yourself and all the other people around you that you want to you want to care for, and you want to look after. And again, that's also part of running a business, isn't it because like I said, it all really does come down to you and how you're showing up. So I would love to know what you think of that today, it's a little bit maybe off topic, maybe sort of typical subjects we've been chatting about on here, but I just think it's absolutely instrumental in future proofing your business and in showing up in the right way in whatever industry you work in. And you know, whatever you're doing, you might not even be working, it might just be about looking after yourself in terms of being able to show up for your kids or your family or whatever that is, but just taking some time out to reflect to think about it and notice what's going on for you. And then thinking about what are the best things for you to recharge your battery, what are the best things, the best ways that you can keep your energy, at least, at least three or four bars. Now, I don't expect you to be at five bars all the time. I just think that's superhuman. And ultimately, I don't think it's, it's necessarily doable. I think actually life is like that, but the more we can be aware of it, and the more we can support ourselves and be you know, put in place strategies to to help us then the better. So, on that note, I would love to hear what you think I would love to for you to get in touch and let me know what your secret weapons or what your non negotiables what you've taken away from this and, and even just if you've actually you know what the story is of the of the golden goose and share it with me. Let me know. I would just like to say thanks for listening, and if you have if you have enjoyed this episode, the best thing you can do to help me and others is share it with people you think you might need it and it's because it's a particular episode stay there might be someone special in mind that you've got who you know, they say Have a listen to this and take some time out for themselves. So, on that note, I'm going to say thank you and I will see you in a couple of weeks. Thanks very much for listening. Take care.
Thanks for listening to The Future-Proof your Business podcast. I have been your host Lucy Rennie.
I want to help as many business owners build a business that works and feels good, and the best way for me to do that is to get this podcast out to as many people as possible. You can help me do this by sharing it, clicking subscribe and especially leaving a review.
If you want to get more of my insights and resources then head over to my website IamLucyRennie.com, and come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you in my FREE Facebook group, Communicate with Purpose. All the links are in the show notes.
Thanks again and I’ll see you next week for another episode of The Future-Proof Your Business podcast.