3 Quick Steps to Revive Productivity When You're Doubting Your Side Hustle By: Vanessa Zamy

Having a side hustle has become more of a necessity, not exclusively for the self-proclaimed entrepreneurs any longer. In 2019, 43% of full-time employees reported having a side job in order to make ends meet, reported by Bankrate. 
Launching an entrepreneurial endeavor can be rewarding and invigorating, yet they require an intense amount of time and energy. Often, entrepreneurs don’t see the results they desire and end up losing confidence and letting things slip by. 

“Your life is supposed to be fun, and doing something on your terms, like a side hustle, is meant to be enjoyable,” says Susie Moore, author of What If It Does Work Out? How a Side Hustle Can Change Your Life. 
Moore is steering us in the right direction, but that’s not always the case as more than 30% of entrepreneurs are reporting symptoms of depression, anxiety which are consequences of burnout. Whether you’re launching a side hustle or have already started, burnout is a risk for you and it could be detrimental to your side hustle success. 
Before you burst into flames, take the time to read the 3 steps to turning your burnout into a breakthrough! 

1. Reflect
2. Plan
3. Adjust

Reflection
Take the time to reflect on what’s happened in your life and business over the last quarter to give yourself a solid view of what’s been going on. If you haven’t done a reflection session in over a year, then I’d suggest going back a year to get a more complete view of your life and business. 
When it comes to reflection, asking the right questions is key to getting quality answers. Questions that you may want to include in your reflection session are: 

What impacted my business the most over the past quarter/ year?

• What contributed to me reaching my goals?
• What contributed to me falling behind on my goals?
• How can I improve over the next quarter?

Your reflection session should give you a clear overview of what’s been happening in your business. It’s best to conduct a reflection on a consistent basis, whether it’s monthly, quarterly or yearly. Taking the time to reflect on what you’ve been doing and if it’s been serving you is the cornerstone of personal growth and development. 
Once you’ve answered the question, design the vision for what’s next. Take the time to imagine what your life will look like by the time you complete your next reflection. Be as detailed and specific as possible and take the time to envision what’s going on. 

This will be the beginning pieces of the plan you’ll craft. 

Plan
The plan of execution is the most essential portion of your project. 
When you craft a plan, you can see what is coming up, how it will affect you and prepare for avoiding and handling it. You discovered what was working and what was not during the reflection session. This is where you’ll take that information and craft it into a strategy for getting back on track. 
As part of your plan, you should be including metrics to track and milestones to hit and celebrate. 
Track metrics that align with your goals. If your goal is to generate more revenue, track your conversion rates, click rate, and page visitors. Don’t spend time tracking the followers on your social media if your focus is not there. 
Milestones are achievement markers as you complete your goals. To create a milestone, choose what will trigger the milestone and the reward. Having a milestone will encourage you to push forward in your goal to reach it, and when you receive your reward you’ll be even more excited to continue forward.

To break it down: 
Goal: Generate $5K in a month with a side hustle, without losing any footing at current job and maintaining a social life. 

Reward: purchase those tickets to the women’s conference you want to attend.

Milestone 1 triggers: $2K collected, didn’t miss a day of work, scheduled dinner with a friend. 

Milestone 2 triggers: $4K collected, didn’t miss a day of work, scheduled dinner with a friend

Goal Complete: Generated $5K in a 30-day span with a side hustle, maintained status at current job and social status

The last step of the plan, now that you’ve created your tasks is to schedule time in your calendar to complete the tasks. 
Schedule the time to work on your business or it won’t get done. Adopt a habit of putting any event, meeting, or other requests into your calendar or checking your calendar before responding yes. A great way to start managing your time is with time blocking. When you time block, you take a task or group of the same task and designate a block of time to complete them. 

Grab this free workbook for mapping your priorities and managing your calendar effectively. 
Don’t let your time management be the reason that your plan falls behind. Use the worksheet to get clarity on what’s important, what’s urgent and what you can leave behind. 
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Adjust
Now that your plan is built, put it in action. The next step is to take action on what happens once you realign. 
Every plan needs adjusting, with no exceptions. Flexibility in your business will allow you to make any changes necessary as they come up. 

Questions to ask yourself when adjusting: 
What is working? 
What is not working?
Where and how can I improve what I’m currently doing?
What do I need to move forward? You may need resources, team members, or even a break.

Be as specific as you can when answering these questions, and record the answers for future reference. You may find this information useful for setting your goals for the next time-span. 
Take all of the ideas, notes, and information that you’ve gathered and craft your next. Create another plan using step 2 and keep pushing forward. 

Make time to work on your business too, it needs some TLC, just like you. These steps will help you to regroup if you start falling off track or if you’ve already done so. 

Vanessa Zamy is a best-selling author and high-performance coach for entrepreneurs overwhelmed with building profitable side hustles while working 9-to-5. If you’re curious about how to optimize your time, you can check out her book, FINISH: The Solopreneur’s Guide to Getting Stuff Done, here. 

Photo Credit: energepic.com

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