Gentle Business with Amanda Rootsey (an interview)
As you may have heard, Amanda Rootsey, Naomi Arnold and I are launching the Gentle Business Mastermind this month. We thought it’d be fun to interview each other on our blogs. Naomi interviewed me, I’m interviewing Amanda here and soon it will be Amanda’s turn to interview Naomi.
For those of you who may not know Amanda, she’s a (gentle) powerhouse of positivity, compassion, love and joy. Professionally, she’s a teacher and mentor for teen girls through her business Shine From Within, a trainer for women in her Youth Mentor Training Program, she’s an eco-model, and a writer. We met through our dear mutual friend Jess Ainscough and have been firm friends ever since. We used to live close to each other and Mandy would come over to mastermind together in my old studio every fortnight, but now we’ve both moved, we catch up on the phone and it’s just as good, well almost… I do miss her hugs! I love Mandy and am so delighted to get to share her with you today.
Ok, now let’s dive into the questions…
Q&A
You inspire and amaze me how you juggle so many diverse offerings with your online Youth Mentor Training Program, in-person workshops for teens, speaking engagements, and writing a book for Hay House. How do you stay on top of everything, while still remaining gentle?
Oh thank you so so much Nic! Hmm that’s a great question. It’s taken a bit of trial and error to achieve this, and I’m still not perfect! I tend to feel overwhelmed quite easily but I get excited about doing a few different projects so it’s been important for me to find a way to make it work. I’m a classic ‘hummingbird’ (Elizabeth Gilbert does a great speech about this on Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday that you can find on YouTube if you’re interested) so I do enjoy having a few things on the go.
The 2 things that have helped me the most are pretty nerdy – visual aids and a project management system. I don’t like to feel ‘boxed in’ or have too much structure in my days and weeks so scheduling myself silly to get everything done doesn’t work for me (and I know you’re the same!).
But what does work is having a clear vision of what I need to work on in this moment.
So when I talk about visual aids, one thing I love is a mindmap. I play with them all the time, using a free app called Simple Mind Lite – I have it on my laptop and iPad. I create mindmaps for all sorts of things but in this context, I’ve found having a mindmap of the year, with 2 projects I’m working on for each month laid out around it, I can quickly see that I don’t need to finish everything right now. This helps me breathe easy again if I feel a moment of overwhelm coming on.
Another tool that’s really helped me with this is having a big annual calendar on the wall with the main projects written in. That way with just a glance, I can see that the next project is coming up in 3 weeks time. I don’t have this up on my wall at the moment and I’m noticing how much I miss it! I don’t fill it with everything, just the main projects and holidays I want to take. I think you do something similar with Google calendar online but for some reason I love it on the wall right next to my desk.
These 2 visual tools really help me to stay focused and bring me out of overwhelm when I start to think about everything I’ve got coming up.
The other thing that helps me with this is Asana – another free app. I love the way you can create projects in there, set tasks for yourself and others, forward emails to it to create automatic tasks, etc. I don’t use it religiously but I like to check it most mornings and decide on my 3 MITs for the day (most important tasks).
Something I’ve really learned from you lately Nic is that it’s OK then to tune in to what feels fun and joyful to work on in this moment. Seeing that I have to go through my emails, for example, may be something I can do first thing in the morning, but if I’m not in the mood for it then I’ll be exhausted at the end and unable to do much else once I get through them all. So I’ve been enjoying choosing the things that bring energy first, and then doing tasks that need doing (and of course emails can be fun too!) but it’s something I can do later in the afternoon when I don’t need creative juice.
It’s so easy to feel off kilter in life. It seems we can focus on one area, only to turn around and find another area needs our attention. Instead of trying to be balanced all the time, I’ve heard of a lovely approach called ‘tilting’. We focus our attention towards a particular area, then readjust after it is complete. Do you find yourself thinking of projects in this way, tilting to what is most important right now? What other mindsets help you feel calm and gentle in business?
Oh what a lovely concept! I haven’t heard of this before but I love it and if I think back over recent projects I naturally do this. What a lovely way to think about it.
In fact I much prefer to work in this way, devoting all my attention to something when it needs it, rather than doing little bits on everything over a long period of time, which can feel very tedious to me. I’m going to start calling myself a ‘tilter!’ Thanks Nic.
I’m not sure if you would call it a mindset but something else that really helps me to feel calm and gentle in business is releasing expectations and trusting that I’m supported, always. I like to have a number in mind of what I’d like to achieve with any launch or project, but then try to let that go and trust that however it unfolds will be perfect and that it will reach exactly who needs it. And it works every time – I am always supported. Even if the number ends up being higher or lower – it’s always perfect.
And while feeling calm and gentle is the aim of the game for you and I most of the time, I’m also pretty comfortable feeling uncomfortable. “New Level, New Devil” as they say. So I know that trying something new, launching something and putting myself out there with anything is going to feel a little uncomfortable, and that’s OK. I just try to ensure I’m giving myself a bit of extra love, extra space to process those feelings and, something else I’ve learned from you, working out the excess energy that can come along during those times as well. Going for a swim, dance, run – something to release any tension or nervous energy.
How do you choose which projects in your business to focus on, while still feeling gentle in the process?
My business coach last year, Megan Dalla-Camina (who’s also a guest mentor in our mastermind – yay!), told me to get a brand new visual art diary – A4 size with lovely thick pages – and write down all the things I want to do. She then said to play them out on different pages – how they might look, what resources would be required and anything else that comes to mind. Then she suggested stepping back away from it all and coming back to that first page, circling the things that will give you a ‘sustainable spark.’ Not something that just sounds fun for a moment, but something that you really feel like you could see yourself doing for a little while and really want to devote a lot of attention to.
I’ve also heard of just getting a big piece of butchers paper, writing down all the ideas and circling or prioritising them from there. However you do it, it was looking for the ‘sustainable spark’ that really stuck with me. It helped me get my head around the feeling I was looking for in these projects, and gave me permission to put some projects down for a moment, knowing I can come back to them later.
What practices do you rely on to help you feel gentle in your business and life? When things feel off centre, what do you return to and find always helps you?
Meditation. I’ve practised meditation for a couple of hours a day, every single day for the past 9 years (didn’t realise it had been that long until you asked the question!). It always nourishes me and reconnects me to my faith.
What would your ideal gentle day in business look like? And a sneaky question, how much of this looks like your life now? What would you like more or less of this year?
My ideal gentle day in business looks like…
A slow morning – meditation in the morning, a walk with my beautiful fur baby, Trudi and partner, Davey and breakfast.
Then I would spend a few hours in the morning working on a project and do some admin work later in the afternoon. I would also have a call somewhere in there – I LOVE chatting on a group call with my youth mentors (and with our mastermind participants soon too!) – it’s always so inspiring to hear what everyone is up to and being able to celebrate and brainstorm with them.
Lots of little moments in between – time in the sunshine to recharge, a cup of tea looking at trees or water, a swim.
How much of this looks like my life now….ooo that is a great question! We’ve just moved into our own apartment in the city so I’m adjusting what my ideal gentle business day looks like at the moment. I love the simplicity of a unit, and I’m really enjoying having a separate office at the end of the street that I can walk to so work and home is completely separate (she says while sitting in bed typing this…ha!) but it feels very extraverted being here in the city. I’m constantly seeing people and talking to people which doesn’t feel as gentle as I’d like – I much prefer to go out and speak or run workshops, have specific coaching days and then have lots of down time writing or creating. And down time in the city isn’t quite the same as being out in the country so it’s been a fun couple of months figuring out my new normal! For now, lots of quick swims in the pool and walks down by the river are helping me!
So, I would like more moments in peaceful surroundings this year…something I’m only aware of now that we’re in the city of course! Perhaps I’ll crash for a night on your boat? 🙂
This is one of the reasons I’m so excited about with the mastermind – we all live in different situations, we all have different responsibilities and we recharge in different ways. And this is always evolving for us. It’s such an important conversation to have and I can’t wait to be working alongside you this year to support others to find what works for them, so that they feel supported, abundant, free and, of course, gentle in their business.
If you would like support in doing business gently this year, learn more about our Gentle Business Mastermind here.
In the meantime, you can connect with Amanda via:
