What could you do less of?

Are you the kind of person who is always wondering what more you could do? What else might you add to your to-do list today, this week/year/lifetime? Berating yourself for not doing more, for not committing to more things when it comes to work or your business?

When it comes to work we are always thinking about what else - it’s even a question that I say many times as a coach. “What else?”

Not just ‘what else comes to mind’ but what else could we be doing.

For job hunters it’s about more applications, more CV editing, more cover letter tweaking.

For freelancers and the self employed it can often be about more networking, more connecting, more handing out business cards, more cold or warm emailing.

If you feel exhausted but also drawn to ‘keep on keeping on’, then I have a question for you this week.

What could you do less of?

This isn’t about giving up, slowing down or throwing in the towel. It might be about taking a break but it’s not about stopping entirely. It’s about re-evaluating your current actions and asking yourself: “Are these serving me? Could I be doing things differently?”

The idea here is to really focus on what’s important, and think about what you are focusing in too hard on. Where you are spending too much of your precious time and energy - and where could you focus it instead?

We often add to our emotional inbox as well as our physical to-do list and checking in with what you could do less of is really freeing.

How to decide what to do less of

Deciding to do less is about finding ways to slow down, and asses your behaviour before taking practical steps to change. It’s about recognising when you are doing too much of the same thing, over and over, and it’s not yielding results. Asking: “What could I do less of?” is about connecting with where you are spending too much of your precious time and energy.

For example, take a woman in her 40s who is on Instagram a lot of the time* and knows she is spending too much time there. She needs to ‘do less’ Instagram, especially scrolling.

It’s not as simple as saying ‘I need to be on Instagram less’. The Woman* needs to start thinking about the actions to put in place to make the change happen. Turning off notifications, for example. Or even removing the app from your phone (no, not dared to do this yet). One thing I’ve started doing is leaving my phone on the other side of the room in the evenings, so I avoid scrolling while watching TV.

*Yes, that’s me.

Networking is another area where I’ve ‘done less’ lately. I was going to a lot of networking and co-working and actually feeling a little bit burned out by all the chat. So, in May, I took a step back and went to a few less events. Remember this can be temporary!

Think of the reasons why you need to embrace doing less of something

With the instagram example, I am prone to overcomparing, especially when evening rolls around. The reason I’d want to do less of it is the over comparing can actually make me quite anxious or upset. With networking, it was about burnout and needing to reset my social battery a bit.

If you want to do less job hunting, for example, think about why. Is job hunting become a source of anxiety or negativity? You might decide to only apply for jobs that fit a certain criteria, or have a whole day off from even looking at job ads.

For freelancers, it might be about outreach - cold emailing people or connecting on social media, especially LinkedIn. Can you be more choosy with the connection requests you send, perhaps take time out from sending those ‘Hi!’ emails or messages? Do less of the ‘jazz hands’ just for a bit and focus instead on some content for your website, or updating your profiles.

For freelance journalists, it might be about sending fewer but more targeted pitches.

Doing less of one thing doesn’t mean doing nothing at all. It’s about toning down the effort on one thing so you have more time and clarity for another.

Knowing what to do less of is also a feeling

It’s also about trusting your instinct, and choosing to say ‘no’ to another round of the same task(s). If you have said to yourself: “I am doing everything I can, it’s not working, I’m exhausted!” then ask: “Ok, what could I do less of?”. It might not be that you stop entirely, but you do less of a particular certain action - whether that’s scrolling at night, clicking easy apply or going to yet another networking event.

I hope this has helped - let me know what you feel you could do less of! And if you want help talking through the challenges you’re going through with work or your business, send me a message to chat, or read more about coaching and mentoring.