Here’s how you create freedom through structure. 🙌🏾

2022 is the year of the Self Maed entrepreneur. Subscribe to the Self Maed Report for a behind-the-scenes look into my business progress, new ventures, success stories and lessons learned.

This is lesson 10 of 11 after 1 year in business.

Like a true Taurus, I thrive with structure. My routines and systems are the foundation for a happy, stress-free and chill life.

They’re also key to my productivity.

What turns people off to structure is the false notion that structures are rigid, suffocating and hinder your spontaneity.

But I promise you, it’s the opposite.

​Structure is key for me to be able to have the spontaneous life that I desire.​

Here are some examples of how I create freedom through structure:

1. Mondays are for character development and admin. The only calls I take on Monday are therapy and Spanish class. If I get a bunch of work done on a Monday, great! If not, no worries. The motive is to ease into the week and that could mean going for a long walk, going shopping, running errands, getting my nails done…whatever sets me up for success.
2. You already know that I don’t use my voice before 11am. Additionally, I don’t take calls before noon. This means that I can spend 2 hours on my morning routine, I can workout, I can meal prep, I can head to a coworking space — so many options! (I guess that’s my definition of freedom — having options.)
3. I don’t take calls on Fridays either and my only commitment is the Friday Report. Other than writing the newsletter and maybe a few admin things, work is out of the question on Fridays. My body is physically incapable of working on a Friday which means I have a bunch of time to do what I wanna do.

These rules, boundaries, whatever you wanna call them mae not work for you, but they work well for me. I hope that you too can figure out some ways to create freedom in your life through structure.

Here are 3 of my suggestions that have worked well for others:

1. As much as you can, commit to getting your priorities in at the same time everyday. If you’re an entrepreneur with a busy schedule, try carving out 2 hours per day to getting work done. Complete those 2 hours of work at the same time everyday so it’s easier to commit.
2. Curate an end-of day routine for the sake of Future You. You can lay out your outfit, review your to do list, create a cutoff time for work or meal prep. Come up with one thing that you can do at night to give Future You less responsibility and more freedom.
3. Turn on automatic savings for bills and big expenses. Use a bank like ONE that lets you automatically have a percentage of your paycheck sent to a “pocket”. This way you don’t have to worry about overspending and you free your mind of having to budget each week.

I hope these help you find your definition of freedom!

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Stay free,
Maegan