Remember To Treat Yourself

Assortment of Coffee, Tea, Berrys, and Toast – Photo by Natanja GrΓΌn on Unsplash

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

This proverb always conjures up memories of Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, in Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining, written by one of my favorite authors, Stephen King.

Jack Nicholson portrays Jack Torrance from the movie, The Shining, written by Stephen King and directed by Stanley Kubrik.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Jack moves his family to Colorado to live at The Overlook Hotel as the building’s caretaker. He has grand plans to start a side-hustle and write a novel during the winter season, while the hotel is closed for business.

Spoiler alert, he goes a bit stir-crazy as he sits for hours upon hours typing away in front of his typewriter.

For me, it’s very easy to stay occupied with busy work, like clearing out thousands of spam emails that clutter up my inbox, but is that REALLY the BEST use of my time?

One thing to evaluate is, what business activities ACTUALLY generate income for you and your business? Logic dictates those are the activities which should be focused on. Resist the lure of “busywork.” It may be satisfying to indulge in, but it will ultimately kill your business if you aren’t also bringing in revenue. Revenue is the lifeblood of your business!

Jack Torrance sat at his typewriter for hours each day. He sure looked productive as he typed page after page full of words and inserted page after page into his typewriter. Upon closer inspection, we discover Jack wasn’t as productive as he appeared to be. In fact, he was really caught in a loop of busywork.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” but unlike this example of Jack, we really should do some PRODUCTIVE work before we decide to play.

Yes, your new business needs you to spend a lot of focused time and energy to get, AND keep everything up and running, but if you forget to rest, your business may be doomed from the start.

Remember to take care of yourself and treat yourself to your favorite beverage this week. Playtime is important after hard work. You’re doing a great job! Enjoy a cuppa!

Get started with Step 1!

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