Love your everyday life – an office picnic for women small-business owners

Everyday life gets its name because it fills most of our time and repeats itself in more or less the same way.

If we’re lucky, we take a few weeks’ holiday each year. The rest of the year – many months – is spent in our businesses, living our everyday lives.

Why, then, do we spend so much time planning holidays and almost never question our daily routines?

This summer, women entrepreneurs gathered in my Mainz office. Over a picnic in the seminar room, we reflected together on our daily routines, wishes and goals, and on our journeys into self-employment.

Isn’t routine too unappealing a topic for that? Think about it: we usually push it aside and don’t mention it. You’re caught in your routines without much thought. Sometimes you complain when it all gets too much, but mostly neither you nor I know what we could actually do differently. Right? That is precisely why we MUST look closely at it.

Everyday life is the key to happiness and success

“Everyday life is the key to happiness and success,” says digital expert Hanna Ruuska. Born in Finland and now living in Spain, she accepted my invitation to Mainz to discuss better workflows, smart routines and digital solutions for small-business owners in a small group. In particular, she made it clear why new digital solutions are vital to the survival of women running small businesses:

“Only entrepreneurs who are in balance with themselves and their tasks can achieve or maintain long-term success,” Hanna said. It starts with eliminating unnecessary tasks and creating certainty. Good, flexible and very affordable digital tools can genuinely make that happen.

But this raises questions that are not always easy to answer: what does success mean? Are you successful if your business supports you? If you are rich? Or if you have enough money and still have time for rest and family? And what is “enough money”, anyway?

For Hanna, there are no right or wrong answers. Everyone must sense what feels right for them now. But how often do we pause in everyday life to feel, look inward and redefine our goals? Instead, we often just get routine tasks done.

And that is precisely the reason for our stress, dissatisfaction or lack of business success.

That is why an annual routine review is important for reconnecting with your long-term goals. Ask yourself:

  • Where am I now?
  • What are my routines?
  • In what direction are my work and I developing?
  • Where should I actually be heading?

When did you last really think about your working day? My tip: do a quick test, ideally right now.

Ask yourself: “Do I love my everyday life?”

If you can answer an unconditional “yes”, congratulations. You are in harmony with your routine and probably on the “good” side.

If your answer starts with “Yes, but…” or “Yes, if…” or even “No”, my advice is: Take some quiet time to think about your everyday life.

Take time without distractions to reflect on your daily processes, actions and routines:

  • Where are things getting stuck? What consumes your time without moving you forward?
  • What about your digital mindset? Are you in charge of your actions, or do WhatsApp, email and the rest drive your day? In short: do you control your technology, or does it control you?

That time is well invested: it is about you, your wellbeing and your professional success.

At the end of the 90-minute workshop, all participants agreed: they deserve a better everyday life, and they can achieve it, even as small-business owners! It all starts with your starting point.

When you know where you stand and where you want to go

, you can get what helps you move towards your goal!

Often these are simple solutions, such as digital tips and tricks, that get lost in the bustle of everyday life.

You can find digital solutions, for example, at www.isolta.de

Interested? Learn more about everyday routines and contact the wonderful Hanna Ruuska: www.khidex.com, hello@khidex.com

Find more interesting articles in our Lilit blog:

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