23. Circle Day: Work AT The Business, Not Only IN The Business - Business Bits - 30 Days Challenge
Do you have a “circle day” every week? No? You don’t even know what a “circle day” is?
Well, it will take just 6 minutes to find out. Read on.
Working AT the Business versus Working IN The Business
If you have your own business - and I suspect you do, or at least you plan to have it really soon - then you know how exciting can be. Oh, the rush of adrenaline when you make your first sale, the relief when you fix that critical bug or the satisfaction at the end of the month, when you can safely pay your team and everybody is happy. It can be really fulfilling.
But it can also be a roller-coaster. The kind that actually drains you out before you even realize what hit you.
The burnout may come from many causes and certainly there are a lot of things you can do to optimize your work, but one that is really simple - and somehow counter-intuitive - is to make room in your agenda for what I call a “circle day”.
What Is A Circle Day?
Simply put, a “circle day” is a weekly break you take from your normal routine. It’s a break in a sense that you’re not doing the same things that you’re doing in a regular day, but it’s not a break from the business. You keep working.
The difference is that you work AT the business, rather than IN the business.
What’s the difference? Well, glad you asked.
Again, very simply put, working in the business means everything you do while operating from the inside (inside of the processes, inside of the strategies you already established, instead of the day to day relationships within your team).
Whereas working at the business means everything you do while looking at the business from afar. You take some distance - like, physically, by working from a different place - and start analyzing your venture from the eyes of somebody else. At the first glance, it looks just like a perspective shift, but it’s much more than that.
So, just to make things clear: working in the business is everything operational and managing, the stuff you’re doing every day, and working at the business is everything you do outside the business (planning, analyzing, brainstorming, but all of these surrounded by a “circle”, meaning you’re not even interacting with your team - unless there are emergencies, of course).
A Crash Course In Circle Days
Here are my rules for setting up - and sticking to - a “circle day”. You may of course set your own rules, but the basic idea is to keep it consistent.
1. Pick a specific routine and stick to it.
Some people use the "7 weeks in / 1 week at" model, while others - me included - just pick a day in the week, mine being Wednesday. Whatever your routine, stick to it. Do it for at least half a year before assessing the results. If you pick the first model: working 7 weeks in a row and then taking a full “circle week”, in half a year you would barely consume 3 cycles. Just barely enough to make an idea.
2. Set rules with your team and stick to them
Let your team know what you’re doing and be very specific about the fact that you’re not on vacation, but you’re also not available. That will have a very good effect on them. I was quite happy to see my team members becoming more active and assertive as my “circle days” were piling up. By not being around each Wednesday, I kinda put them in the position where they have no choice but to make things happen. Sometimes they make mistakes, but that’s understandable. And the benefits are far more consistent than the mini failures.
3. Let other people know that you’re on your circle day
This is also very important, because, sooner or later, people will learn that you’re not available on Wednesdays and the next logical step for the majority of them will be to assume, since you’re not at the office, that you’re free. And that they can just invite you over or, you know, just pop out at your favorite coffee shop and have a little chit chat. Let them know you’re still not “free”, you’re just working in a different way.
In the beginning, this entire “circle day” thing will feel really awkward. Especially for you. But, in the long run, it will pay off big time.
This post is part of a 30 days challenge on business, you can find the entire list of articles here.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
