I heard this years ago… “you get to choose your hard.” 

It’s not that there will not be hard moments in business (or in life for that matter)… there will be. Often more than we want to experience or could possibly anticipate. 

But the truth is our greatest power is our power to choose and we get to choose our hard.  

And spoiler alert: when you choose in favor of your TRUE DESIRES, you make it so much easier on yourself.

Let’s take your health: If you do not treat your body well, you end up being limited… your energy is depleted, your ability to do the things you love is limited, your world becomes smaller. 

The short term “hard” of choosing a healthy lifestyle to eat well, exercise, sleep, down time, floss, etc… (Calling myself out here as I’m totally inconsistent with flossing!)

Unconsciously delivers you into a long-term “hard.” (Read = burnout, brain exhaustion, aging before your time, wanting to throw in the towel…)

So you see we get to choose our hard.  

The same is true for business.

When we build businesses that are not foundationally strong because we choose what feels like the ‘easiest’ thing at the moment, we choose our hard.  Without the proper structures, team, contracts, or processes (for example) we can create something that might have an immediate impact, but creates a much harder environment down the line.  

Much of what I do with my clients is about helping them to build strong, sustainable businesses by consciously choosing what they want and who they want to be. This is at the core of stepping into being an Unstoppable Woman at ever higher levels.  

We make the hard choices now, so that we are not surprised at the outcome in the future.  

What does a proper diet and exercise look like in your business? If you get to choose your hard, do you choose the thing that seems ‘easy’ right now even though it could cost you the health of your business in the future? Or do you face the hard now to get the future results you desire?

What does this look like? Here are a few examples I see when working with my clients at all levels in business…

Working with ideal clients vs working with anyone that can pay you… Thinking the money in the moment is of greater value than the peace and enjoyment they will lose from working with a client who is not ideal. 

Allowing unimpressive work from a team member because we don’t want the headache of training them or someone else…  The reality is that team turnover is both costly and a huge drag on our time (and peace of mind), but an incompetent team member can be costing you thousands of dollars in wasted time, inefficiencies, mistakes, brand impression… choose your hard wisely here. 

Creating programs or services based on what you THINK people will buy rather than what you truly desire to offer. Ugh.. I hate to say it but I have learned this one the hard way. There is nothing more miserable than being tied to a service you are not excited to deliver on. Although you don’t want to overthink it and stay in “analysis paralysis,” it’s well worth going through “the hard” of figuring out how to sell the service you really desire to sell vs offering a sellable service that you have NO desire to deliver on.

So what about you? Where are you choosing expediency over truth? Where are you choosing the short-term easy over the long-term hard? 

See it now and do something about it. 

Embrace “the hard.”

And the most amazing thing will happen to you the moment you stop resisting it…

It will become EASY.

Dear Unstoppable Woman,

I want to share something that’s been really beautiful for me recently… surprisingly, it’s a meeting. I kid you not.

This is strange as my word for the year is spaciousness and the last thing I wanted was more meetings on my calendar. Anything but!

And yet, three of the key principles that guide me are Truth, Beauty, and Intimacy.

I realized recently that I wasn’t intimately (or as intimately as I wanted to be) involved with my Team.

I wanted to know them better. And lead them better.

So, I instituted a 20 minute Daily Huddle (Mon-Thurs, Fridays are free days. :) 

Every day, it’s a quick, targeted check-in.

Here’s the agenda (feel free to swipe and use yourself):

1. What’s something new and good that’s not TUW company related? (Intimacy)
2. Stats review – we look at the move the needle business metrics as a Team so everyone knows where we stand. (Truth and transparency.)
3. Leadership Update (More Truth and transparency) 

We start each meeting with something new and good–this could be my favorite part! I want to know the women on my Team and I realized I often am all about business. Not anymore! Every day, we find something good happening in our personal lives to celebrate. 

This last week we had a team member who lost 5lbs, one whose son learned to ride a bike, and another who is taking ASL classes. Likely, I wouldn’t have known any of this had we not been having daily huddles and celebrating non business related things! (My share for today is: TANGO LESSONS! Omg! So fun :)

Side note: Often in business we talk about conscious sales. Connecting authentically with prospective clients. I want to challenge you to also have authentic relationships with our team members as well. It doesn’t mean you will be best friends (though there are women I’m very close to on my Team), but what can happen when we invest in them authentically (read= care, giving a s_ _t) is that the TRUST goes up and they invest more authentically in our vision as well. It’s a win/win :)

Next, we review where we’re at with the business – we’re talking sales numbers, goals, marketing stats, etc. I lot of business owners are afraid to share this with their Team. I decided to pull back the curtains and treat people like adults. I figured if they knew, they’d be more invested and it’s absolutely true. Plus… energy flows where attention goes, so you want everyone focused on the key metrics.

It’s been really empowering for me to hear how smart, creative, and innovative my team is and it is really freeing to know that I don’t have to have all the answers! I have surrounded myself with people who are committed to the vision and bring brilliance to the table. (I knew, but now I know!

Lastly, is the leadership update. This is where I share any decisions that have been made, dates or timelines on new initiatives, staff changes, or updates to current initiatives. The Team LOVES THIS! They’re in the know and it keeps the communication flowing. They then ask me questions that my update sparks and that in turn saves us a ton of time clarifying in real time, rather than back and forth in Slack.  

Now, why am I telling you about these daily huddles that only take 20m?

Because sometimes it’s the things we think are limiting us that are actually bring us great freedom!

When we shift our perspective and choose how we want to experience our day, we can either be constrained and shut down or we can be loosened and set free.

I choose freedom! I hope you do too… 

What can do today that you may have resistance to but would align you with your guiding principles?