Think Less About Food & More About Freelancing (without starving or eating garbage)

November 5, 2018 Laura Curvin

As a business owner, there may be a bajillion demands and ideas competing for your attention on any given day. All decisions, including unimportant ones and ones you don’t even know you’re making, are like deductions (or leakage) from your brain bank and creative energy.

You can preserve your precious mental mojo by front-loading routine decisions, like figuring out what to eat or wear on any given day.

Lots of strategic innovators wear personal uniforms for this reason, and you can take a similar approach with the meals you eat during work hours.

If you’ve lost track of time staring into a refrigerator or pantry, or if you’ve skipped breakfast or lunch rather than deal with the hassle, then food uniforms could be a real game changer.

UNIFORMS - They’re not just for fashion

FOOD UNIFORMS are pre-batched, low effort options that fuel your brain and body in exchange for minimal effort and time.

Failing to feed yourself, or feeding yourself garbage, has a bigger impact than deciding not to get dressed (which is its own sort of unintentional approach to uniforming).

Food failure is not a form of efficiency. It’s a form of self-sabotage.

You don’t have to be a fitness fanatic, calorie counter, or Martha Stewart-style batching queen to fuel your work hours with decent sustenance that boosts your best ideation and problem solving skills.

In less than 15 minutes, you can pull together a weekly plan for breakfast and lunch.

Repeat the same plan for multiple weeks, and you’ve just sorted a month of workday nourishment in a few short minutes.

That’s less time thinking about food, more time thinking about your business, and more fuel for thinking like the shot-calling boss you really are.

It’s simple. Keep it so.

Food uniforms are so uncomplicated that it may be tempting to try and fancy them up.

Spend time at the top of a week (or month or quarter) to plan, shop, and prep.
Limit your options within a given week, and even more during a given work day.

This is as much about managing your energy as it is your time.

Because food is energy, and you need lots of energy to be a freelance superstar.

First food, not first thoughts

If your breakfast strategy is less like a game plan and more like a game of chance, it’s time to spend five minutes figuring out a uniform for the first meal of your day.

Even if you intentionally skip a traditional breakfast, it’s worthwhile to assess the rituals and habits associated with the food you consume first.

Fuel up in a way that sharpens your focus and brain power without actually having to think in the process. By front loading as much as possible, you can eat well with minimal effort.

Let’s do lunch… without talking about lunch

By lunchtime, you need to refuel and maintain your focus for the rest of the day. There’s lots of research about the benefits of taking breaks to recharge your creativity.

Whether you work through lunch or take time to disconnect, your brain doesn’t need to do any more than necessary while you send good, healthy grub into your body.

Keep lunch and snack uniforms on hand to fuel yourself for the entire workday without losing focus when you need a break.

Check out these healthy lunches you can batch for the week

Without food uniforms, you have work harder to stay sharp.

Wouldn’t you rather work harder, because you’re sharp?

Weekend Batching

I tend to keep my batching process under 15 minutes by using options like boiled eggs and Kind Bars, but if you can spend more time on it, you’ll find loads of inspiration and Pinterest boards.

VARIETY, SUPPOSED LIFE SPICE

If you crave variety from one week to the next, use monthly or quarterly schedules to plan different breakfast and lunch options for each week.

But if you crave more variety than one or two options in a given week or day, ask yourself if having an array of breakfast and lunch choices is really more exciting than having an array of creative ideas and uninterrupted mental focus.

OUTSOURCE IT ALL

If you have the budget, you can always outsource your food uniforms for the ultimate in nutritional luxury.

There are a number of subscription services that make healthy, fresh, good-for-you food and deliver it right to your door. All you have to spend is your money in advance. Then when you’re ready to eat, no thinking or effort required.

Daily Harvest delivers healthy soups and smoothies ready to heat or blend

Fresh n’ Lean offers pre-made healthy meal delivery for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Restaurant Delivery

If you like to order from local restaurants and deliver services, use a batching approach to plan your choices at the top of the week. Decide now. Order when ready.

Food Uniform Takeout:

Don’t start your day with a decision process when your brain isn’t even awake yet! Make breakfast about fueling your body, not forcing yourself to make choices.

Whether you do it yourself or pay someone else, if you front-load the thinking, shopping, and preparation, you don’t have to break creative focus or dilute your executive energy to enjoy healthy meals during the workday.

Pick one or two options for breakfast and one or two for lunch. Limit your options and effort.

Go Naked and Save Your Brain For Freelancing! (One way to avoid Decision Fatigue )

November 2, 2018 Laura Curvin

Some of the world’s most successful people choose to wear uniforms, because they’re militant about preserving mental energy.

Reduce low-ROI decisions by automating wherever possible.

They limit routine and low-return day-to-day thinking, like what to wear, to save as much brain space as possible for high-return thinking, like what to create or innovate.

Why Successful Individuals Wear the Same Outfit Daily

If monochromatic style isn’t your thing, there are other ways to save time and energy on getting dressed.

PANTS-FREEDOM! It’s a start…

When it comes to saving time and mental energy getting dressed, the first and possibly simplest approach is to simply not get dressed. Working from home means you can reject clothes altogether and spend entire days in your pajamas (or your underpants. Or less, you saucy minx!)

If you routinely leave the house or do anything that involves clothes, the pants-free strategy may not be enough on its own.

Your Personal Uniform (or UniFreak!)

Uniforms are one of the best ways to cultivate a signature style while also conserving your creative energy on a day to day basis. Your approach doesn’t have to be as fizz free as the Jobs or Zuckerberg style.

Even investing a little thought and energy upfront can help to simplify all your fashion related processes, so you can maintain your swagger without losing brain bling in the process.

Start by listing the most common scenarios that involve leaving the house in clothes during a given week.

Here’s an example (not mine. I only dress like I go to the gym.)

Mon & Thurs: Gym
Tuesdays: Client Video chat
Wednesdays: Volunteer at the library
Fridays: Video podcasts

Make a list of common clothing categories, no more than a handful.

Two uniform collections would work for the example above: Work Out (also great for staying in) and Client/Camera (also good for volunteer stints at the library).
Assign a single mix & match palette to each context.
Do a ruthless inventory.

Pare down your wardrobe to the handful of pieces you actually wear and enjoy.
Approach this like a savvy traveler who packs an entire work-week in a carryon.
25 Ways to Mix & Match Outfits with Just 8 Essentials
Get rid of non-essentials.
If you’re not good at letting go, have your most militant friend come to help, or hire a professional. It’s worth it. The purge process may be painful in the moment, but in the end it feels SO GOOD! Trust.

Work Out Gym uniform (The WOG)

Other than pajamas, workout wear is probably the most common style being rocked in home offices. And pretty much everywhere else.

Breaking a sweat is optional.

Unless you’re against physical fitness for some reason, consider investing most of your uniform budget in this context.

And even if you’re not (technically) fit (yet!), a good WOG uniform can boost your fitness motivation while taking the guesswork out of getting dressed. Win Win!

The key is being intentional about your work-out uniform, meaning you legitimately could and would it while working out, whatever that means for you.
(My WOG is mountaineer’ish and full of wicking action, because I work out by slashing through mud puddles in the forest.)

Athleisure wear is more than an ironic fashion choice for women drinking coffee on mid-morning shopping sprees. It’s a legit uniform investment.

There’s nothing wrong with living in a WOG uniform if it makes you feel good, motivates you to move, and makes getting dressed a no-brainer.

Ignore the haters and the ironic memes. You could do a lot worse than dressing like an athlete who likes leisure.

Fun Fact! 9 out of 10 scientists agree that they’re 100% more likely to do cardio when wearing cute gym clothes.

Client / Camera uniform

If you regularly shoot videos or meet with clients, design a uniform to simplify the process of looking your best, so you can save your energy for creative and client.

Here’s an article about the staples to have on hand for regular video shoots.

Kid Chauffeur uniform

This is the uniform for freelancers whose parental duties bring them into public view.

First consider the kid duties you can cover in Workout / Gym wear.

Then, for ongoing parental obligations that can’t be handled in your WOG, come up with an easy rotation of mix and match options that don’t need ironing or cufflinks.

Keep in mind that uniforms are for recurring contexts happening on a daily or weekly basis, not every possible situation involving clothes.

Sometimes an existing uniform will work for ad-hoc occasions. Other times, dressing takes more effort, and that’s okay.

It’s about spending your mental energy with intention, rather than letting it drain from your brain in drips and drabs. As long as uniforms streamline the dressing process on a day to day basis, they’re doing their job.

Work Only At Home (WOAH!) uniform

The WOAH is what you wear when you have no plans to leave the house, or work out, or shuttle children, or otherwise engage with the public.

(Introverted freelancers call this 4-Star Fashion days.)

This uniform is similar to the minimalist’s pants-freedom strategy, but more deliberate. And more fun.

Saving time and mental energy is just the beginning of a WOAH uniform. It’s a way to take advantage of all the privacy afforded by your freelance or WFH lifestyle and engage your imagination.

It’s like this: If you never get dressed, you’re still wearing a uniform. It’s just not on purpose.

An intentional uniform, like anything done with intention, is always better than an accidental one.

Spark Mad Men creativity

without all the day drinking and bad behavior!

If you’re creative, and you look creative, you’ll also feel more creative.

Your WOAH can be more like a costume than any other uniform. It’s a chance to enjoy what you’re wearing purely for kicks alone.

Imagine what it would do to your mood and creative energy if, on any given day and without primping or fussing, you were effortlessly adorned in something outrageous or quirky, or wild or retro, or even just remarkably plain but decidedly sophisticated.

Hot shot executives in power suits aren’t the only ones who can experience a surge of swagger that comes with wearing the right clothes.

Your home uniform can be an accidental patchwork of afterthoughts or a purposeful creation that sparks your creativity and boosts your swagger.

EASY BATCH CLOSET
Collect clothes in advance

If you prefer a wide variety of clothes that don’t really mix-match or play nicely together, or if you’re just not ready to commit to a minimalist, uniform, an Easy Batch routine can help to streamline your dressing process.

This is a common practice for office workers. Rather than figuring out their clothes each morning, they spend time each Sunday coordinating all their outfits for the week. You don’t have to commute to a cubicle to benefit from saving time and brainspace where clothes are concerned.

> Night cap mini batch >

Setting out your clothes at bedtime is basically a bite-size version of the Easy Batch process.

While a quick bedtime session is better than using your precious wake-up energy on fashion choices, you can save more time and daily decisioning by spending a single extended session organizing your clothes for the entire week.

Batching rituals don’t have to be a chore. It can actually be a chance to relax and enjoy yourself.

(Do you really need to stress about clothes at your age anyway?)

Turn on some music, make your favorite drink, and play dress-up.

These are also super easy, low stress opportunities for mini closet purges and organization. Without a lot of added effort, you can pull unwanted clothes for charity, and organize what’s left, keeping your wardrobe in smooth working order.

There’s nothing like the satisfaction of a perfectly tidy wardrobe. Except maybe the satisfaction of feeling outfitted all week without a bit of effort on any given day.

Check Out These Wardrobe Organizing Apps

KEY POINTS

Autopilot styling may sound boring, but it’s really just a way of preserving your brain-space for more important thinking and creativity.

Create simple mix-and-match uniforms for your most common weekly contexts like working out, parental duties, client meetings, or just feeling like the most creative, amazing version of yourself at home (WOAH!).

Athleisurewear is a great solution for people who work from home and workout. One uniform, two contexts!

If you’re not into uniforms, then batch your outfits for the week.

Weekly batching can be feel like playing dress-up and keeping your closet organized at the same time.

Overcome Noob Nervousness. Crank Out More Content. Have a CoW.

October 31, 2018 Laura Curvin

Are you a content-noob battling overwhelm or writing anxiety?

If you produce more mental static than actual content, it’s time to get that pressure and self-doubt under control, so you can do more of the work you really love… and then write about it!

Make a Container of Writing
(your sacred COW)

(Hi. My name is Laura. I like acronyms, mixed metaphors, and dairy products. Let’s be friends.)

If you’re not sure when or how to get into the swing of a content process that serves your business goals, that lack of certainty can be a breeding ground for procrastination and self doubt.

When self doubt picks up steam, it can mess with your mind even when you’re doing exactly what you should be doing, like client work (or CPR!).

First you beat yourself up for procrastinating or not posting enough.

Then you worry about over-focusing on “fun stuff” instead of doing what you “should” to grow your audience.

Then you question your decision to even start a blog. Until finally you decide once again that you hate the internet and its incessant demands.

Maybe somewhere along the way you got it in your head that freelancing, or any kind of success, requires pain, suffering, and an endless grind. So all this mental strife is a necessary evil, right?

Wrong.

Whatever your personal mix of angsty poison, it goes without saying that it doesn’t serve you. No amount of dread or worry gets you any closer to Done, on anything. Ever.

And if it’s site content you’re worrying about or avoiding, then build yourself a Container of Writing (the sacred COW!) and park all that energy -- good, bad, whatever.

Then review and empty your container on a regular basis to get control of those distracting, unproductive mental loops .

Blog Blueprints + Weekly Batches = Your Container of Writing

A writing container is basically two parts.

Blog Blueprints: This is where you keep track of what you want to write and the status of articles you’re working on right now.
Bonus points for assigning a deadline for each future article.
Besides mapping your blog’s future, this eventually becomes a living inventory. Over time you can come back here and mine topics for new content. Update something you wrote a year ago and share it with new readers. You may have heard of this thing called Working Smarter. That’s what repurposing old content is.
Weekly Writing Batches: These are writing sessions you schedule for the coming week.

Bonus points for scheduling your batches at the same time each week. It’s easier for your brain to be creative when you engage it consistently.
Batching Tip 1: When you’re just getting started, or if you dread writing (or both), think of the smallest possible time frame you can tolerate, and schedule that. Then multiply that tiny amount into how many ever batches you need to reach your weekly writing target.
Example: Weekly Goal = 4 writing hours
- 4 batches, 1 hour each
- or 8 batches, 30 minutes each
- You can bring this down to five or ten minute increments.
  Whatever works to keep yourself focused.
  This is not the time to “Go big or go home.” This is the time to go for low hanging fruit, my friend.
  
  There’s no shame in going for smaller wins. It’s a proven strategy.

If your mind starts to wonder after five minutes of writing, then set the timer for five minutes. Pat yourself on the back. Then set the timer for another five minutes. Then enjoy the surge of momentum that happens when your brain experiences success.

Batching Tip 2: You only need one label for your weekly batches: WRITING. No need to include blog titles or details on your calendar (unless you really want to).

Topics are secondary.
The most important part of any scheduled writing batch is SHOWING UP.
Once your pen/keyboard/recorder is ready you can always check the blog blueprint if you’re not sure what to write.

In this image we’ve hijacked a shipping container to serve as visual representation of our Container of Writing.

Other stuff to put in your container: neuroses, negativity, you name it

Once you start using your sacred Container of Writing, you’ll see just how much stuff will fit inside of it. This is more than a blogging blueprint with a calendar. It’s an official place to park all the energy (hopes, dreams, dread) swirling around this creative process.

Because, when you’re working on some other part of your business, a part that doesn’t involve writing, that work deserves your full attention. It’s not the time to think or feel guilty about your business blog.

Make a space to deposit random blog-related thoughts.
According to David Allen, my favorite khaki-clad mental ninja, the first step in Getting Things Done is to capture what has your attention, somewhere outside of your head.
Tell your brain you’ll come back to any thought-deposits during your next scheduled writing batch. And then do that.

I have a CoW notebook in Evernote where I list ideas along with any odds and ends I decide to jot down. Sometimes a random note will grow into an anecdote, inspire an article theme, or result in absolutely nothing at all. Whether they’re used again or sent to the trash bin, it’s better that they take up space in Evernote than the area between my ears.

If you’re showing up to scheduled writing batches, you’re doing enough.

The longer you stick with weekly writing times, even when your output is less than productive, the less you’ll deal with guilt and anxiety.

Consistently showing up, consistent action, is antidote to guilt and anxiety.

Here we have the same hijacked shipping container with other stuff added to it. In related news, I’ve just added a brilliant idea to my own CoW notes in Evernote: Hire a graphic designer.

The call is coming from inside your house!
and by house I mean head, and by call I mean…

As a reminder: Nagging, fretting, self-sabotaging thoughts, about writing or otherwise, are not piped in from an external source.

They come from you.

Not your best or bravest You, not the You who should be running the show, but the You that could use a little guidance and compassion.

Let’s call her Nelly.

Be gentle with your inner Nervous Nelly. She’s trying not to freak out, so don’t be judge’y or scornful. We all know what happens when you yell “Don’t freak out!” to someone who’s trying not to freak out. It’s not unlike the brilliant strategy of telling an angry person to calm down.

Nelly’s on the line.

She’s nervous again.

When that version of yourself starts winding herself up, instead of squashing or condescending to her, just gently reassure and remind her who’s boss. (That’s YOU, Queen!)

It helps to be specific, especially if Nelly’s anxiety is specific.

“Hey, Nelly. Thanks for your concern, but I’ve got this. I know you’re worried that I’ll never get all the research done for that article, and then I’ll never finish, or I’ll post garbage, but I promise I’m handling it. I’m not trying to get rid of you. I know you’re just looking out for me. So I’ll be back this Tuesday at 2:00, just like always. And we’ll talk then. I promise.”

Invite Nelly to make herself comfortable in your Container of Writing. Then show up as promised at the designated time. Because you’re a boss, and that’s what bosses do. At least the good ones.

Be a Good Brain Boss. Know when to ask for help.

A good boss knows how to keep her weak links from bringing down the whole operation. Here are some other hallmarks of good bosses:

Stick to your deadlines, and show up for your scheduled writing batches.

Show up even if the only things in your container are dates, times, and doubts. Show up especially then.

Know when to ask for help. If you repeatedly miss writing targets or fail to show up for your scheduled batches, it may be time to look for outside support.

Find a writing accountability-buddy
Sometimes the only way to keep a promise to yourself is if someone else is holding you to it.
Hire a professional coach
This is like an accountability buddy, but one you pay to be serious about the things you need to be serious about. If your friend is way too forgiving of your lame excuses, it may be time to invest in a coach.
Hire a content professional
Of course there’s always the option of outsourcing your writing and just getting on with doing the things you would rather be doing.

CONTAINER TAKEAWAYS

The framework of your content container includes a blog blueprint (or inventory of plans and current writing status) and weekly writing batches. Earn yourself bonus points for using deadlines and consistent batch schedules.
Start small with your scheduled writing sessions. Better to spend less time and stick with it, than more time and not. Consistency trains your brain to be the way you need it to be when you want it to perform.
A Container of Writing holds any kind of thought, idea, or concerns related to your blog or site content. Good, bad, or indifferent. Put all that stuff in its place, and come back when you’re scheduled to care about it.
Be gentle with your insecurities, and know when to seek outside support like an accountability partner, coach or content expert.