Episode 53: Small Business Tips - How to fill your life (and social feeds) with positive, uplifting information
It’s been a hard year for all of us and as we prepare ourselves for a new year, it’s time we add more good news in our social feeds (just to balance out the news we don’t want to hear but we have to deal with). In this quick (personal) tip episode, Fiona shares how 2020 has been for her and why following accounts sharing good news helped her deal with everything that went on this year.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
A quick catch up on 2020
Looking for more positive content
Account suggestions
Conclusion
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Accounts Mentioned in this Episode
Episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to episode 53 of My Daily Business Coach podcast. I have had so many great conversations with people about podcasting, especially off the back of the last two episodes that I've put out. So if you haven't listened to those and you're interested in starting your own podcast or becoming a guest on somebody else's podcast, definitely go and check those out after today's, of course.
But as mentioned on those podcasts, I do have a new online course, which is literally called How To Start A Podcast. Can I get much simpler or clearer? But you can find out what that entails and you can order it and go and do it yourself over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast. But today you are listening to a quick tip episode, which actually doesn't have anything to do with podcasts, or maybe it does, but not in a huge obvious way, but it is a really good tactic that I have found to help me with my business, but also to help me with my energy levels, especially after such a crazy full-on year that 2020 has presented us. So let's get stuck into today's quick tip episode.
So I actually started doing this tactic. I mean, I've kind of always done it on and off, but I really kind of focused on doing it and being really conscious about doing it at the very start of 2020. So to give you some context - in Australia where I am around about this time last year, the bushfire season started and it was horrific, and I'm sure most people are aware that we lost millions of animals. We lost huge, vast amounts of really sacred spaces for our indigenous people. We lost a huge amount of bush. A lot of homes were destroyed. A lot of people's incomes, farmyards, everything was destroyed, and it was just such a heartbreaking time. And so that had happened really at the start of November, well into December. And it was just out of control. And really just, you can't explain what it feels like to be looking at those images and knowing how much heartache and how much turmoil so many people in the country are going through.
So that is how 2020 started well before the pandemic hit us in Australia. But in context, in my own life, I had also had a second child halfway through 2019, who did not sleep. And we also had other issues. So in December that year he'd had to go into surgery. And so I went with him for a few nights and he had to have surgery at five months old. So that was really quite difficult to get over. We also had feeding issues and some other stuff. And so I wasn't sleeping very well. He wasn't sleeping well either. No one was sleeping well, particularly in our household. And then a few days, I think it was about 10 days after we got home from surgery actually, after we went into surgery. Anyway, it was about 10 days later that my father unexpectedly died.
So I had had to put it mildly a really crappy December, a really horrible end to what had been a pretty trying year anyway. And so I had sort of got to January thinking, all right, somehow I need to make 2020 and this next decade really great. And so, you know, and then of course, you know, the universe and pandemic hit, but in that mindset in 2020, I was like, okay, well, what can I take out of my life right now that is not adding to it in any great way. And I know that you're listening to this as a business podcast, but I think this is also just personal life advice as well, which work and lives are so intertwined these days. So it was January, 2020, I just lost my dad. I wasn't sleeping. My son had just had surgery. And so I thought, what can I take out of my life that is not adding a great deal to it?
And at the time I was up all hours of the night with my son and I would often be on my phone while I was trying to rock him to sleep or whatever. And I'd be looking at news, which was not great any time, but, you know, often the news can be so sensational. And so you're looking at just one horrible thing after another. And it's not to say that you should, you know, cut yourself off from that and not be aware of what's happening in the world, but it was just these stories that weren't even news. They were just, this person has done this horrible thing to a child, or this person has done that. And I was sort of like, God, no wonder I can't sleep. I've got these stories going on in my head. And I'm really seeing just negative thing after negative thing after negative thing.
So I made a conscious effort to look at different apps to start following more positive, upbeat, uplifting stories, because there is so much goodness in the world. My dad used to always say that most people are good and most people are kind. And yet we can often just see in the news, just one horrible person after another, after another one horrible situation after another. And of course 2020 has brought so much of that. And of course, some of it we definitely need to be seeing and be awake to, but at that point, January 2020, I sort of thought, okay, well, how can I help with the situations like the bushfires? And so I worked with a friend of mine on an auction that helped create money and funds towards bushfire resources, but I also thought, what can I personally control in my life? And so one of the things that I started doing was to look at things like the Good News Network, Upworthy and so many other kinds of really positive, interesting heartwarming stories that are out there. And so that is my tip today.
If you are finding yourself kind of getting easily, getting distracted or easily, getting down about the content that you're consuming as a small business owner, that definitely has a flow on impact into the energy that you bring into your work, whether with clients, whether with customers, whether with your staff or if you work remotely.
And so even if we're not even aware of it, it's there impacting our energy. So one of the things that I suggest to people if they're in their space is to look at the content that you're consuming and consider looking intentionally for more positive, uplifting, heartwarming stories. So that when you're looking on social media, when you're looking on various news apps, you're actually looking for things that you know are going to help you feel good. Now I know when we talk about this stuff, sometimes people can think, "Oh, well, that's fine. Let's just go all live in a fairy land where we don't actually see anything that's real."
No, no, no. I'm not saying that at all. I definitely think there is a place for news intake and to of course be aware of what's happening in the world, environmentally, socially, all of that stuff. But I do think that sometimes we can get so almost addicted to looking at that content. And we're not even aware of the impact that it's having on us as small business owners. And then that is then generating out to the people that we're with, the people that we work with, our loved ones and our community. So if that is you, the first place that I started was Instagram. That was a tool that I was already on. And so I literally just went to the search bar of Instagram and typed in good news.
And that allowed me to bring up things like Good News Network, Tank Good News, Only Good News, Some Good News. I also had already been following Emily Coxhead. She is a beautiful creator in the UK and she has one of her creations is the Happy Newspaper. And so I'd been following her and I'd, I'd been following the happy newspaper, but I think I'd sort of unfollowed at some point. So I went back, started following them again. And then I looked at things like Upworthy, I'd been sent videos from people, thank you to those people who'd sent them just sort of saying, isn't this fun and isn't this nice. And so I was already in that place when COVID hit, I was consuming a lot more positive, upbeat, interesting heartwarming human stories. And so I think that really benefited me when this all hit, because my mindset, my headspace was already in a more positive skewed area.
And I definitely think that has helped me throughout this year, but of course, like everybody else, I have been hit the same way with, you know, losing clients or losing income, having stress, having to be in lockdown. But I feel having those apps and making sure that what I'm following is definitely parts of it are intentionally positive and upbeat has really helped me as a small business owner. So if that is you, I hope this tip episode has helped. And it gives you some ideas of where to look or where you might call the content that you're currently consuming. I will leave a link to all of these different places that I follow in the show notes. And of course you can find them at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/53, as this is episode 53. If you're interested in other quick tips that can help you in your business and life, you can definitely hit subscribe. So you don't miss out on those.
You can also go binge if you're new to this podcast, this is your first episode. Definitely go and binge some of the past episodes. What I try and do with this podcast is to provide education and inspiration and quick tips that anyone in small business or wanting to build a small business can utilize. And I also interview small business owners about how they built their successful businesses. You can find all of that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast. Thank you so much for listening. I really do hope this quick tip helps you with your mindset going forward into the new year. Take care. Bye.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
