Feeling like your efforts aren't enough?
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Ever felt like your daily efforts towards building a meaningful life and business aren’t enough? ​ You’re setting intentions. Taking daily action. Yet, when it comes to the end of the week, you feel like you’ve poured tonnes of energy into many cups, but you have very little to show for it. ​ If this resonates. Trust me… ​ You’re not alone. ​ Lately, I’ve felt exactly the same. ​ I’m putting in the work whilst working my 9 to 5, but at times, it feels like the work… ain’t working. ​ This entrepreneurial journey is a lot of work right? ​ Building a business isn’t just about making money so you can live a life of freedom. ​ Building a business is a personal and spiritual development journey. ​ It’s a portal for progression. ​ A mirror. Reflecting who you are, even as you become someone you’ve never seen before. ​ Wounds are stretched open. Triggers are ignited. Fears appear to be faced. ​ This is why the journey of entrepreneurship can feel so challenging. ​ Because you’re not just building a business. ​ ​You’re building you.​ ​ Every experience you have is an opportunity to learn from. ​ But to learn, you must be aware of the lessons. ​ This realisation got me thinking… ​ We measure progress on what we can see. So, create evidence of your progress to make it visible (even when it isn’t that clear). ​ “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ― C.G. Jung
​ Lessons Are Everywhere. Your Job Is To Capture Them.​ We’re taught, from an early age, to learn in a specific environment. Consume knowledge, then regurgitate it on command. ​ Most people learn in a classroom. We go to school 5 days a week, from 9 am until 3 pm. We’re told when to take breaks. We’re given a daily structure. And (most of us) conformed rather than rebelled. ​ Why? ​ Because we were kids. Guided by our caregivers (and the government to some extent). ​ We didn’t have a choice on how we learned. We were forced to learn in a particular way. ​ But learning isn’t limited to the classroom. You aren’t a child anymore. Every experience you have is a learning opportunity. ​ If we don’t make time to reflect on our personal experiences by choice. We can miss powerful insights that could mould who we’re becoming. Quicker. ​ Because the truth is: ​ When you’re aware. You can change. ​ So, instead of allowing myself to stay in the frustration of feeling like I’m not moving forward in life and business in the way I’d like to right now. I decided to start reflecting more regularly. ​ All I needed was a pen, some paper, and space. ​ Today, I'm sharing it with you. ​ This simple 10-minute practice helps to bring more awareness to your day, so you can feel more encouraged that your efforts are stacking up. ​ You ready? ​ The Bedtime Breakdown​ Every evening, block out 10 minutes before you go to bed to go through this simple practice. ​ On a blank page in your journal. Draw 2 (evenly spaced) vertical lines down the page, creating 2 columns. (Making your page landscape helps to give more space to write). ​ Then, label each column as below, and ask yourself the following questions: ​ 1. Wins
​ 2. Lessons
​ Close your book. ​ It’s that simple. ​ This practice allows you to catalogue your experiences in a central place to return to at the end of the week, month, or year. ​ It’s not about perfection. It’s about the practice of collecting your experiences to highlight that even when you don’t feel like you’re making progress, growth is happening. ​ The roots are deepening. The structure is being built. Your mental, emotional, and spiritual muscles are growing. ​ When you look back, you might notice themes, trends, and topics that you could explore further as potential content, and offerings to your people. ​ One powerful lesson that came up for me this week was: ​ Continue following my curiosities. The thing that lights me up. Don’t try to make sense of it. Just follow it. With intrigue. And see where it takes you. ​ Earlier this week, I stumbled across a role I’d never heard before: ​ Intimacy Director. ​ They work on productions (TV, Films, Theatre) to ensure that the artists are navigating intimate scenes with safety. ​ As a somatic coach with a background in dance, the more I explored what an Intimacy Director is, the more it tugged at my curiosity. ​ I now have a thread I can follow to see where it leads. ​ But, I wouldn’t have honoured this in its entirety if I didn’t make the space to write it down. To reflect on it and to have a reference for when this insight emerged. ​ Because I’ve written it down, I can take this powerful lesson and integrate it into my daily life to follow my curiosities more. ​ Often, we don’t see the growth immediately. ​ But, if we have a record of our choices, challenges and clarity that comes from our experiences in the form of wins and lessons, we can remind ourselves that progress is being made. Even if it feels slow. Even if it isn't immediately seen. ​ Try this for the next 7 days. 10 minutes. Every evening. (If you miss a day because, let's face it, sh*t happens. Aim to do the practice before the next evening). ​ If something meaningful comes up that you’d like to explore further — I’d love to hear. ​ Just shoot me an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. ​ “We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” — John Dewey
​ I hope this helps. ​ As always. ​ Thank you for reading. ​ Coach Mike Whenever you're ready to lock arms, get personalised support and level up without burning yourself out — here's how I can help:
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