Lucy – solopreneur

I quit my job to start a PR business. While working for oneself is tough, I found it a dark rabbit hole. It all began well enough but very soon I was drowning in work.

I began to work longer but could not catch up. The work cycle was relentless and hard to break out of. Also as I worked from home, my work-life balance blurred completely.

The impact of this way of being was that I:

• lost my life to my business and felt frazzled, depressed and too tired to know what to do differently,
• gained a great deal of weight and lost confidence,
• felt guilty and ashamed to admit how my enterprise was making me feel,
• my partner and I grew apart because I refused to hear his concerns.

I was introduced to the Get Productive Grid™ book through a colleague who is also a coach. She recommended the book after attending one of Magdalena’s open workshops. Her enthusiasm and results made me believe I could do it too. When I read the book I woke up!

How I used the Grid™ in my life?

After creating my large plan Grid™, I constructed bi-weekly Grids.

My workload was too massive and I found it impossible to fit everything on an A3 paper. Realising this however was great for my self-esteem. Instead of beating myself up for all the things I did not get done, I actually saw just how much I was doing.

This new clarity helped me to achieve more but I still found it impossible to give myself time off.

My self-care quadrant 2 activity extended only as far as making my Grids. This changed after two months or so when I began to notice my work volume getting smaller.

The Grid™ method was helping me work more effectively and I got through the same amount of jobs in much less time.

I remember the moment when I turned the corner very well because a long-term friend invited me to take a trip to Italy with her. In the past I would have said No.

Instead, having almost ten fortnightly Grids in my A3 pad, I accepted. We had a fabulous five day break in Milan and I returned a different person. Since then I have resolved to give myself 1 regular afternoon off every week. I started with five 1 hour sessions initially, then 3 two-hour sessions and now I have between 1 and 1.5 days of unstructured time.

My business is flourishing and I feel healthier in mind and body. Earlier this year I also joined a local gym to help me get fitter. I will continue to Grid as I feel better with it and I do better with it.

A Note from Dr. Magdalena Bak-Maier, Grid™ Inventor and MTC Founder

It is easy to get caught up in a downward spiral of pursuing success on costly terms. And, in today’s success obsessed world, it is also not easy to admit to things not working as we wish.

This is a fabulous story. It shows how a good idea spreads best organically. Lucy discovered the Grid™ method not through us but another Grid fan. We thank fellow coaches, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, trainers, and many other professionals for being our champions and recommending the book.

We would also love to help you become a Grid™ fan.

If you are a solopreneur and need to create better work-life boundaries, are concerned about your health and wellbeing, or simply want to have more joy and fun, get your copy of the Grid™ book and consider coming to our Grid™ retreat.