Last June, Katelyn and I went to the TwoBrain Summit in Rosemont, Illinois (15 Minutes outside of Chicago).
For those of y’all who don’t know, TwoBrain Business is the mentorship group that I found my business mentor, Brooks, through to help guide Vegvisir around potholes and problems that are avoidable as we grow. After all, I can’t just coach, I need someone to coach me and keep me accountable on what I need to work on as well!
Going there and listening to the speakers and talking to other fellow gym owners had us looking back at a document that grew from our values that we went over last week, The Vegvisir Playbook.
This is a document that we use to make everything simple and remove ambiguity from everything we do at the gym. From how we coach each class, to who to contact when x happens, to something as simple as how the front desk should look is in there and it is essentially the thing that will help the Vegvisir keep going if I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow. We want Vegvisir to be a home away from home for over 10,000 athletes where they can see success in a compassionate environment. We can’t very well do that if one day everything just comes to a grinding halt because there weren’t procedures in place.
Get To The Point!
Why bring up all this? Well, something that is a huge problem in our community is stress. The number 1 reason athletes don’t finish their goals at Vegvisir is that work stress got in the way and their workouts fell to the side as that pile of stress grew in their minds.
Yesterday, we talked about how values can make decisions in our lives even easier, well creating a Life Playbook can be a next step!
SOP No. Rules of Engagement Yes!
For business education purposes, The Vegvisir Playbook has detailed outlines of how to do something step by step to the point that if you showed it to anyone, they could execute that task. These are called Standard Operating Procedures (or SOP’s). For a personal playbook they really aren’t necessary because you’ll probably only ever have to train a handful of people to do things the way you like them (washing dishes, where the couch cushions should be arranged, etc..).
The more important part of a playbook you should incorporate are the rules of engagement. When to do something and what is the priority of the task!
For instance, one of my biggest stressors as a gym owner started during COVID lockdown when I started responding to emails at all hours of the day and didn’t let it stop. It got to the point where the simple ping on my phone would release all those fight or flight hormones making even just relaxing, stressful.
If you feel that way about your work, set a standard Rule of Engagement for yourself. A good rule to combat this problem would be, “I will only respond to emails, texts, phone calls, etc.. between the hours of 8am and 6pm. If I receive a message after 6pm, the message will wait until I check my phone at 8am the next day.”
“But, what if they need me?” Unless you are “On Call” with your job for the day, an email doesn’t need immediate attention. A call about when to host the next meeting at 8pm while you’re at dinner won’t be any less meaningful if it were returned at 8am the next day.
These rules are for your health. If you set boundaries for yourself, your business, your friends, etc… and establish them, people will start to respect them. After all, don’t you have that boss/co-worker that can’t be reached after x time? They’ve already set that rule of engagement and you know it by heart.
But Kidd, I Can’t Set A ROE Like That. What If I’m Not Viewed As I’m Working My Hardest?
You are and you can. We all are. The very fact that you chose to work on yourself in your free time means that you are by definition, a hard worker!
The fact that you care so much about meeting quotas and helping provide a service/product to our country means that you are working hard. The fact that when the clock is on, you carry out your responsibilities to the best of your abilities each day means that you are a team player. But, we can’t work hard all the time. If we do, we stress out, eat too much, drink too much, and lose sight of what is important.
YOU are just as important as everyone else. We all deserve “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!” So, why not make sure your time and happiness is sacred?
Set some Rules Of Engagement for yourself today! What is something right now that you can put in place to carve out an extra 30 minutes of you time today? Something where you get to choose what to do and it relaxes you! (If you have a perfect day, try and fit something from that into that 30 minutes)!
Now take that Rule Of Engagement and write it down somewhere that you will always see when you open your phone or computer. Live by it as if it were law for 30 days and note the changes over time. Let me know what rule you make and whether it helped you carve out some personal time or allows you to focus more on personal time (like not having to check your phone during a workout or dinner)!
You are not just a cog in the machine. You are part a community where everyone deserves respect, let people know how they can respect you and if you show them the same kindness you’ll be surprised how well your playbook melds with the people you enjoy having around you.
If you are reading this and aren’t already a part of our lovely community, we would love to sit down and chat with you about your goals! CLICK HERE to set up your No Sweat Intro to talk with a coach today!