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2. Running a Small Business with Chronic Fatigue: Planning

Writer's picture: AishaAisha

Hello darlings!


If you have Chronic Fatigue then you know how frustrating it can be. One day you're fine, the next you can't get out of bed again. The unpredictability makes planning (especially when running a business!!) a nightmare when you have no idea where your energy levels are going to be and how long your 'good days' will last.


In our late-stage capitalist society, it feels as though the world is crumbling every second that you're not doing something productive. That's normal, but it's important to remember that your health is the most important thing and making yourself sick for your business simply isn't worth it.


For this post, I'm mainly outlining mainstream productivity techniques, altering them slightly for CF purposes. You probably came across a few of these when at school, looking up studying techniques.


3 Things


The most basic of all the productivity techniques; apparently your brain can only focus on three things at once, so making a list of three things at the beginning of the day will ensure that your mind is focused where it needs to be.


As your brain can only handle three tasks, once you cross one off you're able to add another. However, with CF (depending on your energy levels) those three things may be the only tasks you can accomplish that day.


Personally, I don't limit this list to purely business-related tasks. If I'm in a bad fatigue slump I add showering or making dinner to the list. This leaves less room for business-related tasks but if I only have a limited amount of spoons for that day (see later in the post!), it's important that I leave enough energy for showering. Being able to tick off all three things at the end of the day also makes you feel good, even if the accomplishment was just washing your face. You still did that!! You still achieved something!


When I have more energy, I put the three most important tasks for the day, and replace them with new tasks once I've completed them. It's a good plan to write down quantifiable tasks that can be ticked off. I'm quite bad at this, I always put 'start' or 'continue' at the beginning of my tasks. A way to improve this, that I'm working on incorporating, is to either break the task down into smaller tasks or include a time block. 'Work on X for 1 hour' is much more satisfying to tick off than 'Continue X'.


Also, when writing this plan for the day, underestimate how much you can do. It's much more satisfying to tick off all three things, possibly more, than be upset that you didn't achieve everything you wanted. Instead of 'work on X for five hours' just put one hour, and congratulate yourself when you went beyond that limit.


I will get into this more in the 'My Current Setup' post, but I have a whiteboard in my work room with (1) (2) (3) permanently written on it where I write my three most important tasks for the day.


Pomodoro Technique


I really like this technique as there are multiple advantages to it. Firstly, it makes it really easy to log what you did in a day. If you're logging your daily activities (which I recommend doing if you're running a small business with a chronic condition) the half-hour chunks means that at the end of every half hour you can make a note of what you did.


Secondly, it's very flexible. If you're in a bad slump you can give yourself longer rest breaks. During bad times sometimes I work for half an hour then rest for half an hour; you're still working, just in shorter bursts which is easier to maintain if you're having a hard time.


Eat the Frog



A slightly uncomfortable analogy, but that's kind of the point- the idea is that you do the most unpleasant task that you're not looking forward to first, and then you don't have it hanging over your head for the rest of the day; or, indeed, for the upcoming weeks and months you procrastinate.


As someone with CF, I know you want to be spending your energy doing things that you enjoy and things that feel productive when you do have that well of energy. Personally, I hate admin. I have a monthly turnover document that I fill in at the end of every month that I always put off, I don't always look forward to interacting with customers (even though I like fulfilling their commissions!) and don't even get me started on taxes.


Even if the task is small, it may take a lot of your mental energy in order to execute it. Hence, this technique means that even if doing something small but unpleasant drains a lot of your energy, you will still get it done.


Spoons



The spoon theory, if you are chronically ill, is probably one that you're already familiar with. While a well person may have a whole drawer full of spoons (spoons representing energy here), a chronically ill person may only have a handful that they have to carefully allocate in order to get everything they want done in a day. The annoying thing about running your own business means that the spoons are not reserved for your business, you also have to make sure you have some leftover to look after yourself.


Making dinner, showering and cleaning all take up spoons- more than you think if you're a well person. So as much as you may want to throw all of your energy into work, you have to make sure that you have enough energy left over to look after yourself. If you don't feel like you're living a life, then there's not much point to anything.


Both this story and the technique described in it may be useful for some of you:



Finally, you can find a wealth of worksheets and symptom logs on this website:



Although keeping track of these and filling them out will require energy, it will be worth it in the long term. The better you understand your condition, the more you will be able to manage it and live a happier life in the long term.


You can't always control the events happening in your life; you can't change the date of your friend's wedding or not go to the shops if you desperately need milk. What you can control is how you prepare for these events, and manage your life outside of them.


~


I hope you liked the look of at least one (if not a few!) of these techniques, let me know if you'll be trying any of these out in the near future. Next week is the final post, 'My Current Setup', showing how I utilise the techniques I've outlined in these blog posts to run my own life and business.


Until next time,

Aisha x


1. Good Business Practice/Fatigue Management

3. My Current Setup

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