The key to avoiding burnout & creating vitality in business with John Dunn

So often photographers come to me wanting more leads, better marketing or higher sales which is all things I help with, but it is putting the cart before the horse.
Let me explain, it is how we are showing up as the business owner that makes the difference in all those things; particularly our mindset & energy which then dictates the actions we take or don't take and the results we get.

What I wanted to discuss is YOU as you are the business and in particular your energy. Some of you will scroll past and think you know this, or it isn't important but trust me when I say this is the foundation of all successful business owners and people winning at life.

There are 5 main areas that influence and affect our energy.

Sleep
Exercise
Nutrition
Hydration
Stress

The top 4 give us energy and the last one depletes it. So often when we are stressed, overwhelmed and time poor we don't sleep as well, we neglect our exercise, we eat crap to feel better and we don't stop to look after our mental health. It's like running your phone all day with every app open — sooner or later, the battery is going to die and performance crashes.

GET YOUR ENERGY SCORE

I created an energy score quiz so you can see where you stand at the moment, and it will give you a score out of 100% based on the 5 areas above. The goal is to be at 80%+, this is where you have the focus, energy, and clarity to play life at a high level and the mental space and time to take the actions necessary to have an amazing business. The by-product of an 80%+ score is happier, less stressed and enjoying life more.

60% or below is the danger zone and where you most likely constantly feel stressed or overwhelmed, are time poor and aren't enjoying the business or life as much as you want. Someone who scores 80% has double the available units of energy available to them each day than someone who scores 40%. They will be twice as focused, productive, and energised – everyday!! Their chance of success is decidedly more, the good news is that you can shift
your energy results dramatically and quickly with some simple habits, discipline and mindset shifts.

If you think of yourself like a battery, you wouldn't leave the house with your phone on 40% so why do we do it to ourselves. This is quite simple stuff, but we overlook it or ignore it to chase what we think will make the difference in our business – more reels, better marketing etc but those are all external. Until we tend to the internal and our energy the results won't come.

Here are some quick tips on each of the 5 areas.

SLEEP
No screens or food 1hr before bed.
Read or journal to wind the mind down.
Similar bedtime and wake up time each day.
Ideally 7hrs of sleep for men and 8hrs for women.

EXERCISE
Move your body every day.

NURTRION
Eat to suit your body – This isn't about diet it's about lifestyle.
Minimise sugary and processed foods.

HYRDRATION
2lts of water a day.
Minimise sugary drinks.
Don't drink coffee in the 1 st hour after waking up.

STRESS
Don't touch your phone in first hour after waking up.
Meditate.
Mindfulness breaks.
Get out into nature.

My advice is to pick the area you want to improve the most and take one action or implement one habit to shift. If you take the energy quiz it has a quick training detailing how to do this and the mindset strategies around changing your energy score. We can't change everything at once so start slow, but it all starts with an awareness to change and give ourselves a better chance of success.

TAKE THE 2 MINUTE ENERY SCORE

There are some simple daily habits and strategies that I teach my clients to have the focus and energy to make their businesses a success, I hope this article & the quiz has highlighted some simple steps to take to bring that to your life. I would love to know what you are going to implement so DM me on Instagram with your action steps or any questions you have.

Johl Dunn
@johldunn
www.johldunn.com