What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do Next
A Journaling Activity
Burnout-Proof Your Business | Workflow & Productivity Specialist | Your Next Best Step | What to Do Next | Moving Forward | Pivoting | Fly on the Wall Journaling Activity | Journaling for Your Business
Have you ever felt lost in your business? Like you don’t know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it? Like you’ve just been going through the motions and you have no clue where to go next?
Girl - me too!
This is actually pretty common among us work-from-home types. And it makes sense too.
We spend all day worrying about “are we doing enough?” or “could we be doing more in this area or that area?” And we do all of that alone in the vacuum of our own little piece of the world.
And it tends to lead us to a point where we just start doing things for the sake of doing them. Posting on social media 3-5 times per week because we’re supposed. Writing blog posts because we’re supposed to. Sending out emails because we’re supposed to. Maybe I should send out one more? Or hop on IG one more time.
Do you see a common theme there?
There’s no inspiration, no spark, no excitement.
And it leaves us wondering:
Is this it?
Is this really all my business will be?
All my life will be?
Enter the Fly-on-the-Wall journaling activity.
This is one of my favorite activities to do when I’m feeling a little lost. Especially if I’m stuck on the hamster wheel and can’t see the next step I should take.
Here’s how it works:
Pull out a pen and notebook (you’ll likely want more than one page).
Close your eyes and pretend it’s a year in the future and you are a fly.
You are buzzing around happy as can be when you see your favorite coffee shop ahead. You fly on in and park yourself on the wall above one of the tables.
At this table happens to be two people you know (but don’t know well) from around - either a networking event or church or even someone you see regularly at the grocery store. (You don’t have to know who they are - just know it’s two people that are aware of you and your business.)
You start to listen in on their conversation and realize they are talking about you!
As you listen closer you hear what they are saying….
Open your eyes and jot down everything you hear them say about you and your business.
What are they excited about?
What are they impressed with?
What are they proud of?
What impact are they seeing?
Write it all down. Give yourself at least 15-30 minutes to do this.
Why I love this activity:
If I had never tried this activity, I would definitely be thinking it was a bunch of bull. No way could it help me figure out what to do next. No way!
But because I have done this activity, I can tell you that if you take it seriously, it can have a HUGE impact!
The first time I did this activity was almost 3 years ago. I was struggling in business. I knew that designing wedding invitations wasn’t cutting it for me (while I was good at it, I wasn’t fulfilled). But I had NO CLUE what to do instead. It had taken me several months to finally decide to design wedding invitations and now that I was tasked with figuring out where to pivot, I was completely lost.
To be honest, I wasn’t doing this activity to figure out my next steps. It was part of a course I was taking on copywriting and I honestly don’t remember the context of the activity. But it definitely wasn’t “you need a career change.”
After doing the activity, I sat back and said “WHOA!” out loud to myself. (Yes, I talk to myself. A lot. And no, I’m not crazy.)
Everything that came pouring out of me was about helping others. How I was inspiring other female business owners in their own businesses and helping them become better CEOs and life better lives.
There was a lot of other stuff that came pouring out of me too, and I had to weed through some of it. (Briefly, I entertained the idea of doing gift baskets.)
But after a week or so (it felt so fast!) of revisiting what I wrote and doing some market research and soul searching, I realized that I needed to be a coach and I needed to coach specifically on workflows, productivity, how to use software and make it work for you, and simplifying your business.
And that was the day my world changed!
I started working on new services, stopped taking on new wedding clients, and started reaching out to my business friends to see if anyone wanted to be my guinea pig. Nearly 3 years later I’m still loving this job!
I wouldn’t be here without that activity, though.
See why I love it so much?!
I come back to this activity from time-to-time when I’m wondering what to do next, if I should offer a particular service or not, or if I just feel like I’m in a rut and need to be inspired again.
So give it a try and let me know what comes up for you! Comment below or DM me on Instagram.
I empower creatives, bloggers, and coaches break the cycle of overwhelm and burnout, and scale beyond their dreams so they can step into that lifestyle of freedom they actually want and truly deserve--and they can do it right now.
As a former teacher, my goal is always to help you understand how to do it on your own and how different techniques, strategies, and tools apply to you and your business. There is no one right way to run a successful business!
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