Levelling up in business (and life)

Recently, my little family of four has levelled up. 

No, we haven’t bought a house (yet). We haven’t booked an overseas trip. It’s something much, much bigger than that. 

Both the children (aged 2 & 3.5) are sleeping in their own beds. In. Their. Own. Beds.

Why it’s a level up

I’ll tell you why this is levelling up. Several reasons:

1. After 3.5 years of co-sleeping, my husband and I finally get our bed back to ourselves (mostly, except when someone sneaks in once we’re passed out)
2. The kids are sorta putting themselves to sleep, which means we get 1-2 hours back every night that we used to spend lying next to a child pretending to sleep (and often also falling asleep by accident)
3. This means we can do bedtime much earlier and get our kids in bed and asleep by 7pm (we used to think only unicorn children did this)
4. Which means we get actual time together in the evenings to RELAX (erm, and also sometimes work a bit more…)
5. The kids are even sharing a room which means if they’re not super tired yet, they can play together in the dark (like little rebels) and really, who cares as long as they leave us alone?

Everyone is sleeping better. Everyone likes each other a bit better. This is 100% next level for us.

The craziest thing is if you’d told me this was possible a few months ago, I would’ve laughed at you. Our lives looked so different. The younger child took hours to fall asleep next to me on the big bed, and the other child, who had only just started falling asleep by himself, still came out of his room many, many times before falling asleep (and after). 

We needed this so bad

Don’t get me wrong. Co-sleeping was great for a while. It meant more sleep for everyone and easier breastfeeding for me and the smallest one. But there comes a point where you’re just ready to move on from that stage of life.

We really needed things to change, so I started to research by Googling things like:

• Putting two toddlers in one room
• Transitioning kids to their own bed
• Ideal sleep environment for children
• How long do toddlers sleep
• Why won’t my kids nap
• Sleep drugs for kids (kidding… maybe)

Then we made a plan and went for it. 

The plan

We started talking about how Bazzy would share a room with Nathaniel and how exciting it would be. 😉 

We ordered two new bed-in-a-box mattresses and two matching sets of bedding (because if it doesn’t match, they WILL fight over them). 

We timed it so they’d be exhausted from daycare and so, so ready for bed. And then we set our expectations low and gave it a go.

Hello success

Amazingly, shockingly even, the first attempt was a massive success. After a bit of excited faffing and lots of “he’s not lying down” they both fell asleep in half the usual time. I emerged from the room going… “whaaaa?”

And it’s mostly gotten even easier over the last few months. Mostly, they fall asleep faster and easier than ever before. Maybe they were ready for a change as much as we were. Things are up and down with kids – I fully expect us to take a few steps forward and a few steps backwards. But still. I’m enjoying the feeling while it lasts.

So, what in the world has this got to do with business? Other than the fact that I now have a little bit more time and energy leftover at the end of every day…

Business levelling up is pretty similar

In business, I’ve found the process to levelling up pretty similar.

Here’s why. 

First of all, you know you need to uplevel. 

There’s something niggling. Or maybe it’s becoming a real pain in the butt. You know you’ve gotta make a change.

So, just like I did with my kids, you make a plan. You figure out what’s going to solve the problem (hopefully) and enable you to grow past the issues you’re having right now. 

You probably have some doubts and reservations. Not all your plans work out. In fact, quite a lot of them fail. And plans take a lot of effort to execute properly.

But you suck it up, pick a date, and make it happen.

And hopefully *fingers crossed* it plays out exactly how you hoped. Things improve drastically, you save time, you make more money, you get more of the right clients, you increase productivity… whatever it is. Your plan works out.

Congrats, you’ve levelled up!

It’s a rollercoaster

Soak it in. Enjoy the moment. Because just like parenting, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster ride and you’re sure to find yourself heading for another steep climb soon enough.

Lucky kids are so cute. And lucky business is so rewarding 🙂 

And if the plan doesn’t work out? You go back to the drawing board and make a new one. You try again. Because it’s how you keep moving forward.

The level up process

If there’s something in your business (or parenting/life) that’s bothering you and you know you need to change it, start to do something about it:

Research – Ask questions and find out what’s worked for others

Plan – List out the steps you’ll need to take

Make a date –  Put it on the calendar or in your task manager

Execute – Do the thing you planned and do it confidently

Repeat – If at first you don’t succeed, try again (or if you do succeed, celebrate it and then tackle your next hurdle!)

Now here’s hoping toilet training child #2 goes this smoothly… 

🙂 Angela

P.S. I hate the “level up” cliche just as much as you but I couldn’t be bothered coming up with a better alternative, so deal with it 😉