How the Swedes have taught us to have just enough of everything we need

Whew - December right?

What does your work life look like in December? In fact, what does LIFE look like in December?

Life isn't quite so busy for me now that my kids are older and we don't have 8 million school and choir concerts to attend (my kids attended an arts school, so there were showcases for everything - and often it wasn't even Christmas themed - why did it have to be in December??). But, it's still December. Our first Christmas party was the last weekend of November, so for this introvert, things started early.

I'm definitely more of a 'curl up by the Christmas tree and read a book' sort of celebrator.

And this year I'm determined (really determined, damnit!) to take some down time over the holidays. No email, no SM, no phone, etc. Lots of walks in the snowy forest. 

But, I've also got a growing to-do list of little things that I want to get done over the holidays since my calendar is closed to client work - get some of my systems tweaked, update my T&C's, plan out my 2023 promo schedule - those sorts of things.

Lagom

Recently I came across an interesting term: ‘lagom’. It’s a Swedish word meaning ‘just the right amount’, and, in the article I read, at first glance it seems to refer more to material goods, even food and drink (so the timing is just right with the holidays upon us), and knowing when enough is enough. The article goes on to state that there are two strands to lagom - first, a social awareness that if we take more than our share, then someone else goes without; and second, learning how to be satisfied, how to find contentment in satisfaction without always pushing for more, more, more.

It got me thinking about my own business and what I consider ‘just the right amount’.

Just the right amount of energy spent on it.

Just the right amount of time spent on it.

Just the right amount of resources spent on it.

Just the right amount of money spent on it.

As online business owners, it's so easy to let our businesses sneak into every moment of our lives. After all, we can operate a lot of our business right on these super-computers that we carry around in our back pockets. The moment we turn on our phones we see payment notifications (or worse, payment failure notifications), we see emails from clients, we see Facebook messages from potential clients, we see DMs from collaborators. And since the online business community is global, it's tough to say 'contact me during business hours' because they just might be contacting me during their business hours. I've had clients who are exactly 12 hours ahead of me, so our conversations are typically either at their bedtime or mine - yeesh.

With all of these challenges, where do we find the balance?

One thing that I do is find the joy and pleasure in these challenges. I started an online business because I wanted this flexibility. I used to have a business that meant I had to keep living in one city because my entire business was based right here. Having an online business means that I could pick up and move to the other side of the world and my business wouldn't be affected at all.

The other thing is to set some boundaries. When I do have a client in another time zone, I do make sure we sort out when we can be in communication. We determine what works best in terms of how we communicate (email? Voxer?) and when we can each expect a response. For my clients in closer time zones, I do give very clear office hours - 9am-4pm M-Th.

If potential clients want to connect with me, they have book a call through Calendly, and I have it set up so that I’m only available at certain times. I don't make my email available to anyone that isn't already a client or student, and I never (never, ever) give away my phone number.

I shut ALL notifications off, on both my computer and my phone except for my calls and texts. The only person who ever calls me is my dad (thanks dad!) and the people who text me (my kids, husband and friends) know not to expect me to answer them unless it's an emergency.

I've also had to set boundaries for myself. My daughter and husband both get home from school/work between 4 and 4:30, so that's when I wrap up my work day. I’ve set up notifications on my phone telling me that I’ve used my allotted amount of time on social media (1 hour for both Instagram and Facebook) and my phone automatically goes ‘to sleep’ at 10pm. Sure, I can override it, but it’s a reminder that I’ve had enough access to my screen. 

What about you? How are you incorporating lagom into your life? How about into your business? Is this something you’ve thought about? And do you have it all figured out? (And if you do, please share your secret!)