Are you an exhausted Pilates business owner? Perhaps it’s time to close some ‘loops’
And no, I don’t mean the Feet in Straps kind either ;)
I recently came across the concept of Open Loops and Closed Loops, and it articulated something I see often in studio owners (and even in myself). Exhaustion and burnout isn’t usually caused by having too much going on, it’s the countless number of decisions being held without structure, floating around in our brains at all times.
It’s the cognitive load of:
The 76,534 emails that are sitting in the inbox
The client situation that we have been putting off dealing with
The difficult conversation with a teacher
The unpaid bills
The 50 open tabs on your laptop
And instead of moving forward with the things on your to-do list, you sink into fight/flight/freeze and start doom-scrolling to self soothe.
When I read this (while doomscrolling - yes, I get the irony) , it made so much sense to me - of course I feel scattered when I don’t have the structure to complete tasks - of course I feel like I’m treading water when prioritising jobs, is a job in itself.
It’s like our internal operating system has slowed to a crawl because we we have so much going on in the background.
This is closely related to the Zeigarnik effect, where unfinished tasks are remembered more strongly than completed ones:
Unfinished threats or uncertainties + working memory being taxed = intrusive thoughts, even when we are working on another task.
I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want when I’m teaching a client is to be reminded by my overworked brain that I need to get those docs to my bookkeeper asap (true story!)
Owning a boutique Pilates studio means you are often wearing all the hats - and so there are many different tasks for us to deal with that run the gamut - from marketing to accounting, teaching to leading a team (or if you’re a solo-preneur - maintaining all the client/teacher boundaries).
Here’s my challenge for you this week:
Do you remember the old style Eisenhower Matrix - Urgent, not-urgent, important, not important?
This week, take out a piece of paper and ‘upload’ everything that you have running in the background of your mind. This is going to help you find a clearer path forward and helps to organise your priorities.
If you do this on a consistent basis - you might find your overworked brain being able to rest and your ability to see the ‘forest for the trees’ will improve.
Remember:
Brain relief comes from having clarity, not doing more.
Scheduling, delegating, or eliminating is neurologically the same as completing a task (in terms of stress reduction)
It’s not about doing more, it’s about closing the loops.
I hope this helps you feel a little clearer about your upcoming week!
If this resonates, I’d love for you to subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date with my blogs and podcasts
And, if you’d like personalised support closing loops, strengthening systems, or leading with more ease, you can also work with me directly here:
https://www.kimpaxtoncoaching.com/work-with-kim-paxton
