protect your white space

Today I want to talk about organization of your time. First and foremost, and I know this is going to sound insane, protect your white space. Block out time in your calendar for recalibration and protect it. Have an honest conversation with yourself about how your energy flows and how it depletes. For me, I have found it really does follow my cycle. I wish I could say it doesn’t but it does. I will have weeks where I do an entire month’s worth of work in a week and others where I may only actually put in 10 solid hours of work in a week. When I have tried to force myself into consistent energy output, I only deplete myself faster. My head talk gets nasty with all of the “shoulds” that float around in there. It turns out- speaking to myself in an unkind way makes the work I produce pretty shitty. Go figure. When I look to see how others are doing and compare myself negatively to them, that also fails to be effective. I see their highlight reel and compare it to my behind the scenes.

So what does work? Mondays and Fridays I really try to protect as admin days. I keep the most white space on those days. Something in the week will nearly always need the space of Friday to get it done. Monday is unfortunately the catch all for whatever work Friday Danielle left unfinished. Monday is also my chance to prep for the week, following up on loose ends from the end of the previous week, and having a day to work in a space in my comfiest clothes with the camera off. Monday Danielle is not client facing unless she absolutely has to be.

Tuesdays I try to have my standing meetings with my most demanding clients. I will usually have nearly my entire Tuesday filled with client meetings which produce the tasks that must get done that week.

Wednesdays I save for meeting with networking partners. This is the midweek lunch with the prospect or client I have been trying to have face to face time with that is not work related as well. I also carve time out for my mental health for at least an hour on Wednesdays. For me that usually means an Al-Anon meeting. For you, do whatever feels right in your heart, but do something to support your brain and your nervous system midweek.

Thursdays I will have standing meetings with my less demanding clients. These are the check ins for projects that are otherwise humming. This is also a great day for outreach to new prospects and researching what is going on in your territory to stay up to date. Networking events in the evenings also typically fall on Thursday nights. I try to do at least one evening networking event a month. When I was getting established, I would do this much more, but I have found once a month to be sufficient.

Then Friday- again, this is typically when I am trying up loose ends from the week. This will usually be a lot of calls with my team to make sure they aren’t waiting on anything from me. This is also a great day to take clients out for something fun like golf or a longer lunch. I try to do something like that also at least once a month.

Every day will have something that will try to throw a wrench in this, but when I settle into this rhythm, I produce the best, most consistent results. My nervous system stays regulated and I don’t burn out from the pressure of a sales role.

Now I hear you- you think there is no way your boss will allow you to run a schedule like this. Maybe they won’t. Maybe you need a new boss. Because last I checked, a good boss wants to see you obliterating your quota and they don’t actually care how you go about that. They also probably want to see you stay with your company and continue to produce revenue for them. You can’t do that very well if you let yourself burn out. Your boss will not protect your peace. That is your responsibility.

Ok yes, I hear you again- where will my leads come from? What if I am having a slow month? What if a deal I thought was going to close doesn’t and now I’m behind? Fear does not attract money. It doesn’t. Fear based choices will not put you in the flow of your career. A desperate rep with commission breath is not going to close the deal. Gross. Do not deplete your own precious energy on things that are outside of your control. If a prospect responds to an email or not is outside of your control. Sending it is. Researching and understanding your products, clients and prospects is inside of your control. If their budget was changed last minute is outside of your control. Another company coming in with a more desirable solution- outside of your control. Building trust with your client to have transparent conversations about things like that, is inside of your control. Working on your own mental health is inside of your control. I will keep bringing that up because sales is a head game. The sooner you master your mind, the sooner you will see skyrocket success.

Sales has the ability to hit every trigger for a person. Every insecurity. Every story. This, more than anything, is why sales is such an interesting bunch.