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There’s a funny thing about writing a blog I had never considered. The inspiration for the posts doesn’t usually come when you’re set up at your desk with a cup of tea and a blank Word document in front of you. For me, it’s on a reflective walk at dusk or brushing my teeth at 10pm, so I tend to feel like I’m recreating thoughts and trying to put them into words on a page. That’s just a side note and something for you to think about, should you be considering writing a blog.

Today is all about slowing down in a fast-paced environment and Marie Kondo.

Here at The Grow Project we have just completed our first ever ‘7 Day Business Fuel Challenge’. We hosted several online conversations between Rebecca Newman (our founder and CEO) and fellow amazing entrepreneurs in the spheres of business, naturopathy, music, resilience, movement and more. Almost all who joined Rebecca on these sessions were asked what their top five fuels were and the responses, while unique to the individual and representative of their chosen life path, had similarities. Family, movement and nourishing food were common but all included a fuel along the lines of meditation, stillness and mindfulness. Read: slowing the heck down. I am a terrible natural breather, as someone prone to anxiety I often have to take a few deep breaths to catch up, as though I’ve been holding it in for too long while completing a task or considering a next step (check out Dr Libby Weaver talking about breathing, I apparently have my body in a near-permanent state of fight or flight.) The hard part of all this is, when you’re in scale mode you’re doing the opposite of slowing down. You need to be up, balancing on the balls of your feet, light, agile, ready to duck and weave and jump on opportunities. That’s not to say it’s crazy and chaotic with balls whizzing past your ear but it’s finding that balance of moments when you’re on and running hot, versus those moments for even three deep breaths (high-five Melissa Ambrosini) or ten minutes of sunshine and a walk around the block (high-five Bec and our walking chats).

Which brings me to Marie Kondo. When I first learnt of her methods I thought it sounded revolutionary and I wanted to devour her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Tidying and Decluttering. Due to my procrastination-prone behaviour, I don’t own a copy and I still have a pile of clothes in the corner from when I moved in to my house in November (sorry Husband.) If you’re not familiar with Kondo her practice is simple, put your hands on everything you own – if it doesn’t spark joy, thank it for its services and get rid of it. For me, there are plenty of things I own that don’t “bring me joy” but I could not get rid of. Applying the theory to both my wardrobe issue and business I prefer “does this serve purpose”? When you’re full steam ahead with launch events, partners and promotions while also trying to slow down and refuel daily through meditation, preparing nourishing food and getting to bed by 10pm you simply don’t have time for superfluous stuff in your calendar (or that white mini skirt you bought and never wore). In my professional life, if I could get rid of anything that didn’t bring me joy I would never sit through another conference call and we wouldn’t work Fridays or Monday mornings. However. Do these things serve purpose? Yes. So when you feel like you don’t have enough hours in your day (sidebar, I hate that Instagram “inspo post”, you have the same amount of hours in the day as Beyonce. I do not have the same number of staff on my personal payroll as Beyonce, thankyouverymuch) anyway, when you feel like you don’t have enough hours in your day take a look at what is filling your calendar. Are the weekly two-hour WIP meetings with everyone in your team serving a purpose? If the answer is no – and trust me, I’ve been there, the answer is probably no – then get rid of them! Replace them with a purposeful (or purpose filled!) solution. Maybe it’s a 30min nourishing breakfast with your team once a week; or a ten minute walk with your key staff each day for the headlines and some fresh air, sunlight and movement. This week, I encourage you to ask yourself “does this serve purpose” more and ditch the time-sucks from your schedule.

X JN