Work Less Live More

Now, I love an assertive person. Someone who likes to get the job done, and done right. But the idea that you have to work hard to get this done is more damaging than helpful- especially in the field of birth work.
Okay, now don’t go get all worked up. It’s just not me. Science proves it.
Researchers and scientists studying complex neural networks, resting states and active states of the brain suggest that during downtime our brains go into something called “Default Mode Network” (DMN).
Earlier DMN was thought of to be useless. That it did nothing. Soon it was found that they were wrong.
The DMN is now connected to having epiphanies, making better decisions, having a better memory and more creativity.
Could you imagine how your work will be with better decision making? With more creativity? With better epiphanies (or intuitive nudge)?
For those who offer birth work services like you and me, that is all that matters. Can we be more creative, more certain, more energized? If we can, we can win the world by saving more lives and time!
I found this research a few years ago while studying for my NLP Certification. I was reminded in an email today that inspired me to ask myself the question:
“How do I create more downtime in my life and still be prosperous in birth work?”
This would eventually lead me to get creative. I needed a system that was not the basic 40 hour per week routine. So I created a system where I work only 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. That’s 20 hours a week. In that time, I not only run InTune Mother, but I also have a coaching/consulting business, and I am a homeschool mom of 4 boys, plus a board member of two maternal health organizations.
It sounds impossible, but it is not. Let me be clear, I want to get this science down to working only 4 hours per week. Here are some of the principles I am using so I can craft this reality for myself. This will help you, too. The goal here is to get pass the bondage of job descriptions as self descriptions. You offer birth work to your clients. You are NOT a birth worker.

Principle 1: The Pareto Principle
The Pareto principle states that“roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes”.
Simply put, a few clients create more high impact results. What I found was that: If you take the 20% of clients that seem to create the most high impact results, you’ll still end up trying to facilitate too many services. What we must do is go deeper and find the 20% of this 20%.
Essentially finding one or two services that make the most impact in your work.
This should help you find a few sets of services that you need to focus in on.

Principle 2: Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s law states that: “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”.
That means if you assign 2 hours to do something, it will take 2 hours. If you assign 20 hours, it will take 20 hours.
That would mean if we could assign a set time to serve a client we will tend to complete it in that time. This principle is a little fickle. It doesn’t work all the time. But it does work most of the time.

Principle 3: Deep Work
Cal Newport wrote a book called “Deep Work”.
In summary, the book argues that if you assign dedicated time to something, you’ll be more likely to create better quality work over a short period of time vs the same quality of work taking longer time if you are constantly interrupted.
This means, if we can find a way to be uninterrupted, we can create phenomenal outcomes over a short period of time.

Here is where the magic happens:
When you use these three principles while understanding the requirement of downtime in your life, you would realize:
You can find the key clients, schedule them in your calendar for a specific block of time, in a place where you are uninterrupted and surely you can get your services done in the delegated amount of time, with much higher quality.
This can then create more downtime or free time for you in REAL LIFE.

Here is the glitch in our plan:
Often, when we create free time in our lives we end up wasting it on social media or watching television. I’ve made this same mistake. The secret to really being able to use this free time as FREE TIME. This is the time to schedule day to day lifestyle routines at that you normally neglect. Like, doing laundry, loading the dishwasher, or even taking a nap.
You get where I’m going. Now let’s flip the script…
My question for you is: How are you creating “downtime” or “free time” in your life as a person who offers birth work services?
Share your own strategies here.

P.S. Wanna learn more about these specific techniques to become a productive person offering birth work services to your community? Check out this online class designed just for you.