I tend to take on a lot, sometimes intentionally because I am driven and thrive on being super busy and engaged, but also sometimes unintentionally.

I’ve told my mastermind group recently that my cup is full, and one or two more drops would make it overflow. While the strong Type A in me gets giddy at the thought of having a packed schedule and a million to-dos just waiting to be checked off, I’ve started to feel that chest tightness that means my life is just a tad too stressful right now.

One of the things I’ve done this year to help take my business to the next level is surround myself with inspirational women and men who have achieved the balance I desire – a highly successful business combined with a life of meaning and plenty of time for family and friends.

Three particular things these wise people have said stuck out to me, all this week!

“Get crystal clear on your goals and don’t do anything that doesn’t serve that.” Lewis Howes

How do I apply it? Ahem, anyone else’s calendar a hot mess? I tend to over-schedule myself and not leave enough time blocked off for creativity and big projects, and the busy work is not going to help me achieve my ten year vision.

The first step I see so many leaders neglect is defining the ten year vision. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know what actions will or won’t lead you there?! I’m working on defining this vision now, then comparing my calendar against it and declining anything that doesn’t align. Feels good!

“We want to be great but we don’t have a plan for greatness.” Jasmine Star

How do I apply it? You’re a visionary leader and want to do amazing things but don’t know how to get started and execute. We get stuck in our own heads, overwhelmed, and nervous that we don’t know what we don’t know, all because we don’t have a plan for this visionary greatness.

Of course, she was talking about social media planning and strategy, but I see this in the leaders I work with all the time. Either they have a huge vision for impact in their organization but lack the critical financial management skills necessary to make their greatness a reality, OR they lack that strategic direction and vision necessary to make the impact they want.

Use Monday as a day to set the tone for the week. Inspired by Kira Stokes

How do I apply it? Of course, Kira was talking about never missing a Monday workout, this can be applied to everything in your life. When we think of Monday as the January 1st of each week, we enter the week with new inspiration, motivation, and drive.

So each Monday, review your calendar for the week and ensure every single appointment gets you a step forward on your goals, create a to-do list of meaningful action items that contribute to your vision, and of course, get that workout in!

Who do you surround yourself with to be inspired and motivated? Do you have a vision for your organization that you shape your work around?

I listen to a LOT of podcasts about entrepreneurship, and many specifically about marketing because I have a TON of knowledge to be gained in that arena. Marketing feels about as foreign to me as speaking Nepali or playing chess, but it’s an absolute necessity for an entrepreneur.

One of my favorite podcasts is Building a StoryBrand with Donald Miller. The guy is a marketing and storytelling expert and an intellectual, but not pushy or over the top like other marketers I’ve listened to. His guests are the best of the best, brightest entrepreneurs of our time.

He recently did an episode with Tim Arnold all about embracing tension.

One theme that came out of the episode was the idea that binary thinking is the enemy of creativity. In other words, when we think of every situation as having a right and a wrong, a good and a bad, we get stuck. We inadvertently cross off the thousands of other potential solutions out there which limits us as leaders and the organizations we run. Now, as an analytical numbers person I do often see things in black and white but…

They discussed one particular dichotomy that got me thinking:

Structure vs. Flexibility

First, we need to get rid of the “versus” according to the idea of embracing tension. There is no fight or struggle between structure and flexibility because we can – and should – have room for BOTH structure AND flexibility in our work, home, and relationships. We should embrace the tension between structure and flexibility.

Here’s how I thought about applying this to my business.

Routines, systems, and workflows are important. I have processes in place that allow me to answer emails, prioritize tasks, onboard a new client, analyze a client’s financial statements, and close a client’s monthly books. It took a great deal of time, experimentation, and analysis to get all of these systems set up, but now many of these tasks run on autopilot. There is a great deal of structure to the work that I do. In the same way, there is structure to my day. I start each work day with a short period of journaling, followed by assembling my overarching to do list, and blocking off time to complete tasks, answer emails, and hold calls.

But what are systems and schedules and workflows without flexibility? If I don’t allow myself to remain agile and nimble, one new client or unexpected deadline would have my business crumbling to the ground, and me picking up the pieces each and every time. I must remain flexible in order to be adaptable to change.

Here’s how you can apply this to your organization, specifically around financial leadership.

Of course systems and schedules are vital when it comes to the IRS and other governance matters. We can certainly remain flexible, but typically, a deadline is a deadline and we simply must plan for it.

However, one area where I see organizations getting tripped up constantly is around flexibility in financial reporting. They run the same set of reports month after month because it’s part of their process. They get so stuck on autopilot that they lose sight of nuances, details, and opportunities. Their structure is at battle with their flexibility, and instead of embracing the tension they simply choose structure.

So here’s how you can embrace this tension to be more flexible with your financial leadership.

1. Build a culture of structure AND flexibility within your team. Your team needs to be as flexible AND structured as you are. Without discipline, a finance team will inevitably miss deadlines, but without flexibility they may also miss opportunities for funding or new and exciting programs.
2. Run the right reports at the right times. The standard income statement and balance sheet might not cut it every month. Wondering why your cash balance is low? Dig deep into your A/R Aging report. Thinking about increasing investment into a particular program? Run a P&L by program to see how profitable it currently it. There’s SO much information hiding in your financial statements that leaders often MISS.
3. Conduct a systems and processes audit. This audit can simply be a review of your systems to ensure you’ve got the structure to success and the flexibility to take on new opportunities as they arise. Maybe you need to lighten up on arbitrary deadlines or tighten up on accuracy. Document standard operating procedures (SOPs) from beginning to end to find gaps or weaknesses where you can import new structure or flexibility.

Do you learn more towards structure or flexibility in your home and work life? How can you strike a greater balance between the two at work and at home?

Interested in building this culture of structure and opportunity into your organization but don’t know where to start? We do this ALL the time for clients, so drop a line and let’s chat.

I almost didn’t go to yoga this morning. I was awake and laying in bed looking at my phone, reviewing the class descriptions over and over again, convincing myself this particular class would be too hard.

The class I attended a couple days ago kicked my butt. As I am still working on regaining my pre-baby fitness, I found myself struggling with even the most basic flows and skipping every other chaturanga. So when I read that this morning’s class was a faster (more difficult) flow, I looked for easier classes on the schedule instead.

I was wide awake though, and the rest of the family was sleeping, so I got up and went.

The teacher starts each class by reading a short story, quote, or poem and today was all about stepping out of our comfort zone to take little side trips throughout the road trip of life. She talked about changing the inner narrative that plays in our head telling us that something is too hard or too scary, and reframing that narrative into a more positive one.

Well then.

For someone who waxes poetic about stepping out of one’s comfort zone and trying new things, this was a little bit of a kick in the pants. Just because one class was hard, I was going to take the easy way out next time?

Nope. Not me.

I spent the rest of the class telling myself that I could hold the pose just a little longer, and you know what? It worked. My little side trip down this morning’s yoga practice journey left me feeling energized and ready to conquer the day.

A shift in my inner narrative and my mindset, something that costs literally nothing, changed the course of my entire day, maybe my entire week.

Now apply this to your business or organization. If you ask a potential donor for a $500k grant and they say no, you could tell yourself, Well, this type of donor doesn’t believe in this organization so I may as well only request $100k grants from now on. But if you change your mindset to, I believe in this mission and I know they will too, and you may land three $500k donors because they can sense your passion and dedication.

I know that all this mindset talk may be a bit woo-woo for some people, but it all boils down to this:

When things get tough in your business, what do you do? Scrap a good idea because one person said no? Decide never to hire someone again because you had one bad hire? NO WAY!I challenge you to do just one thing out of your comfort zone this week and practice resiliency to get through it.

I promise it will be worth it.