Cold toast and 10am boundaries
Why I stopped answering 5am client calls and started protecting my mornings
Setting boundaries can be hard, especially when you are new in your business. Most of us are people pleasers and find the word ‘no’ distressing and uncomfortable to say. But creating boundaries, especially around our time and energy, is an important part of growth.
I read a good article in the Flying Solo newsletter on how to set clear client boundaries which gives some really good advice.
Most clients appreciate your boundaries and will honour them and understand their importance, but we have to train them.
If we don’t stipulate our availability and non-availability, then everyone will assume we are there for them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
When I first started my business, it was a matter of pride for me to say I was available 24/7 and as a result I often received phone calls late at night or very (I mean very) early in the morning.
I am a night owl, so late calls weren’t much of an issue, but those 5 or 6am calls would shatter me out of slumber.
Somehow, I have the ability to appear wide awake and refreshed when I answer the phone despite my racing heart and muddy brain, so I guess my early riser clients never caught on they had got me out of a deep and necessary sleep!
I now make sure my clients know that my time until 10am weekdays is sacrosanct and that I am not available on public holidays or weekends unless it is a real emergency.
I get up at a reasonable hour, but before I head off to meetings or into my office, I have personal things to get on with: shower, breakfast and household chores. Plus, I really am not a morning person and my brain doesn’t function on all cylinders until I’ve woken up properly, which can take a couple of hours.
My routine is much the same. I stagger out of bed at 6am and try not to wake the husband or the Helpful Dog. I grab a glass of iced water and go somewhere quiet and calm (my office, or outside on the verandah or our pergola area if it’s warm) and journal for half an hour.
By the end of this the dog (and husband) is usually up. Dog is taken outside for bathroom duties and to check out the overnight traffic - kangaroos, deer, hares, rabbits and birds with the occasional neighbouring wandering dog.
I get breakfast all round, leave my toast to cool while I take a shower and dress. Toast and coffee plus a Berocca (my vitamin supplement of choice) and then I check my emails and socials.
By the time I go into my office or trek off to an appointment I have made the bed, swiped the bathroom handbasin with some cleaning product or other, perhaps put on a load of washing, unloaded the dishwasher and wiped down the kitchen.
I prefer not to receive phone calls from clients before 10am as well and will often just let them go to voice mail. As a slave to my phone this has been a hard lesson for me. The only thing I’ve forgotten is to add to my voicemail message that I’ll get back to them after 10am, but it’s on my To Do list.
In the past I never stopped work for lunch, sometimes eating a sandwich, but always doing that at my desk while I checked emails or going down a news report rabbit hole. Now, I do stop for proper meals and have a lunch break - again often taking this outside where it’s away from my electronics.
The lessons here are that our time is precious to us and we need to look after ourselves so we can look after others.
Clients will respect your boundaries, providing you create them and you share them.
Take a look at the Flying Solo article - it has some great ideas to help you identify, manage and set your boundaries.
Would love to hear your strategies for self-care.