Episode 221: Will it matter in 5 years?
"It would matter in five years if I didn't change my behavior." In today's episode, Fiona shares a question that sounds so simple but has changed the way she lives and does her business. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Will it matter in 5 years?
On Fiona’s experiences
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Hello and welcome to episode 221 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. Today, you are listening to a quick tip episode. That's really where I share a tip tool or tactic that you can implement immediately. And today it's one that I use all that time. And I actually can't believe I haven't already done a podcast episode on it because I use it so frequently and it is so helpful. So before we get stuck into that, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the beautiful land on which I'm recording this. It is a little cold right now, but it is still beautiful. And that is the Wurundjeri and Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. And as a small business owner, I pledge to work in ways that aid in true equality for our first nations people.
The other thing that I wanted to quickly bring your attention to is group coaching. So we are actually booked up for one-on-one coaching. I think we are now booking people for November so that's a while away. If you wanted to work with me please, I would love to work with you. And if you find this podcast useful, maybe you're like, I would actually love to have the opportunity to work with her in person. And so group coaching is one way that you can do that. It starts in early August. We are already interviewing people and they are so lovely. Like I'm just blown away by the type of people who apply for group coaching. They're all just wonderful so far, and I'm sure they will continue to be. So you can find all the information over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/groupcoaching.
And that does start in early August. You don't have to be from Australia. We've had people from the US. We have people every time from New Zealand, we have people from Hong Kong that have done this before. So you don't have to be in Australia to do it. You just need to be available in Australian time. So if you are in, I think it's the East Coast or West Coast. I think it's the West Coast of the US that has a really good time zone with Melbourne where I am. So anyway, check it out and see if you wanna apply. If you want to please do that soon. So again, it's mydailybusinesscoach.com/groupcoaching. All right, let's get into today's quick tip episode.
So is it a tool tactic or tip? I would say it's a hard one. I would say it's a mix between a tip at a tactic. And so what is it? This is gonna sound so simple. You'll be like, really? You are doing a whole episode on this, but it has changed the way I live, honestly, and the way that I do business as well. And it is basically asking yourself, will this matter in five years, will it matter in five years? And I know that might seem a little kind of, well then you can just basically not do anything in your business because do you really need to post that thing on Instagram? It won't matter in five years, will Instagram be around in five years or will it be in the way that it is now, I'm not saying that, I'm not saying just use this.
And don't worry about doing all the small things that actually just need to get done. But I am saying sometimes when we come to bigger decisions or even decisions around things that I say outside of our business, like personal life or something that needs to be done, we can get caught up in, God, I don’t know which thing to prioritize. And so one question that I have used a tactic if you will, is literally writing down, “Will this matter in five years,” the amount of times I have written that in a diary or on a post-it note, or just on my computer screen in an email, I mean, I don't send it to anyone just to remind my myself, will it matter in five years? So I'm recording this in July and for the past probably a month to five weeks, I have experienced excruciating pain consistently.
I basically, and I will do a separate episode on this, but I stood up and my whole legs went numb. And I went to all sorts of, specialists and neurosurgeons. And basically, I've got three bulging discs in my spine. So I'm under intense pain even this morning before I recorded this, I had to do a lot of meditation and a lot of kind of leg work and physio to get to the point where I can sit in this chair and record this podcast. However, I'm not going on about that. But what I mean to say is that I've had to change things around in my business. I've had to postpone things that were really still very important. And I've had to just think, will it matter in five years, if I postpone a workshop by two weeks and I have just the loveliest clients, I have one in particular that I've had to postpone and she is just wonderful.
And I know that she listens to this podcast. So thank you so much. But, me postponing a workshop for two weeks, probably isn't gonna matter in five years, but me not looking after my health right now and getting the time to rest and work on my spine recovery. Yes. A hundred percent. It's gonna matter in five years if I don't do that now because it could potentially get worse. And so I really wanna look after that now. Likewise, and probably the first time that I really used this tactic was years ago when I was actually still employed and it was my son's birthday and I'd come into work and I was like, “What the hell am I doing?” Like, “Why am I at a job I don't like on my son's birthday?” Like why aren't I hanging out with my son? And so I just thought, “Okay, that is never happening again.”
And I actually booked in annually for the very next year for the same date. And I remember my boss was like, “Did you get the dates mixed up? Because you've put in today for next year.” And I was like, “Yes, no, that's correct.” I don't wanna be here on my son's birthday again. And by then I'd already quit. But I remember writing that down at my desk, just writing that note down and being like, a hundred percent. It's gonna matter if I keep turning up and not celebrating his birthday and it's fine. Like I know lots of people celebrate their birthday in the evening and all of that, but I was like, I'm in a position where I could potentially start a business and then have some more freedom over my time and be able to make these incredible birthday celebrations on the actual day.
And so it did matter, it would matter in five years if I didn't change my behavior, likewise with the back, likewise with so many things in my business, I've really sat down and gone will this matter in five years. And sometimes it's an absolute no. And it's like, yeah, cool. So just do it like, or just change things or just say no or move that thing that you need to move and it's easy. And then sometimes it really is a lot of like really thinking about that question over time. And so it might take me a week or two weeks to come up with the solution, but it starts with that question of will this matter in five years and it could be anything. It could be the way that you are onboarding your staff. Like, are they gonna stick around?
I know a lot of people don't stick around for five years, these days, but as employed people. But potentially if you set up a great culture and if you set up a great onboarding process and a great experience for them to come into the company, then they're more likely to stay. And so it's really thinking about this in all parts of your business or if you are listening to this today and you're kind of grappling with something really take a minute and be like, will it matter in five years? And often we'll find that it doesn't or on the flip side, it is really important. And we really recognize that. And so we do whatever we need to do in order to make it happen or to change it or to remove it or whatever the destination is of your question. But to ask the question is so important.
So that is it. It's a really quick tip episode, but I have used this so many times and you can change the five years to two years, one year, three years, whatever it is, but really think bigger picture. I think so often we can get stuck in the details and in the minutia and in the, “What are they gonna say if I do this” or I'll look really unprofessional, or we have had to change my poor beautiful OBM, Yricka who basically plays Tetris with my schedule all day long has had to change so many appointments lately. And I really feel for her because sometimes I'm just giving a No notice. Like, “Hey, the neurosurgeon's free today.” Actually, he got a cancellation I need to go in, can you change this, or my physio wants to see me again.
And it's with the health stuff. I mean, you always have to kind of go by whatever availability these specialists have, which is really impacting. And also has made me super fortunate that I have my own business, that I can move these things around, but there is a level of really having to sit with myself and go, “Okay.” It might look unprofessional to change things around with not much notice. And we are not used to doing that. We don't do that all the time in our business, it's seven years in and this is probably the worst health crisis that I've had in that time. And so I've had to really recognize, okay, you're gonna have to like get over your ego. You're gonna have to get over certain things. And you're gonna have to think, will this matter in five years?
Yes. It is absolutely important to take care of your spine now and to see these people now, work can wait. People can wait, things can wait. And so I just wanted to present that today in the hope that maybe somebody out there is really going to be changed or used this in their life to be able to make a decision and come to a decision that they feel confident in. So the tip tool or tactic is just a tactic today and it is, “Will this matter in five years.” I really hope that that is useful to you and that this all makes sense. Obviously, with the smile stuff, I'm also on medication. So let's hope that this actually makes sense to people, but also I wanna say a massive thank you to all the health people out there because I have had to deal with so many of them over the last five weeks.
And all of them have been incredible, especially given all the situation and the stress and the overwhelm that they must be going through over the last two and a half years. So thank you to any and all health workers. That is it for today. If you wanted to look at this in text format and see if it makes any sense, you can do that over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/221. And that is it for today's quick tip episode. I'll see you on Thursday. If you're listening in real-time for one of the best interviews I have done ever on this podcast and absolutely essential listening. So make sure you check that out on Thursday, when it comes out, episode 222 is coming and it's amazing. So make sure you hit subscribe. Bye.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you wanna get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram @mydailybusinesscoach.
