So picture this. I'm at a race. Years, and I mean years, of me telling other people to look at their numbers, look at the evidence, don't tell me how you feel, show me how it's going.

And there's me, halfway around, looking at my wrist, convincing myself the watch wasn't right. The GPS wasn't right. The signal was bouncing. I just didn't want it to be true.

This one's for you if you're running it all on your own. Your own business, your own clients, your own diary. Because I think a lot of yous are looking at the numbers in your life right now and telling yourself the watch is broken.

What's in this one

• When you're self employed nobody is actually checking on you, so you can tell yourself whatever story you want
• "It's just a busy spell. It'll calm down after this month, after this launch, after Christmas." How long have you been saying that ? Six weeks, six months, two years
• How I fell foul of my own coaching. A full year of training twice a week, and work came first every single time. The sessions weren't dropped, just moved. And moved again
• Sitting on my own for 15 minutes after the line, and not one single word in the car the whole way home
• What I actually did about it. I cut my clients by 30%, and got back my evenings, my weekends and time to think
• If you don't make the call on your own time, someone else will make it for you. Your clients, your phone, the internet
• Guess first and check. The gap is the whole thing. Awareness, then structure, then conviction. You can't build structure around something you won't look at
• This isn't about taking the foot off the gas. I want your business to fly. It's getting the ratio back in line

The line I'd leave you with

The watch was right all along. It always is. The bother is whether you're actually going to look at it.

Your homework

Check your watch. And no, not the one on your wrist.

Write down the week as it actually was. Not the week you planned, not the week you tell people you had.

Hours worked, evenings included. That hour of emails, that hour on the sofa, that voice note at 10 o'clock at night. The time you were with your family but thinking about work.

Then the jobs someone else could do. When you last had a full day off, and I mean fully. The one decision you've been putting off.

Guess first. Write down what you think the numbers look like, then go and check.

Then decide in advance one evening this week that's yours. Put it in the diary before anything else gets a look in, and tell one person. Your partner, a mate, whoever.

Do the numbers in the next 48 hours. Go get a bloody paper and pen.

Come and tell me

Instagram: @onlinegordy
Web: onlinegordy.com

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This one's for the person everybody looks at and goes, "I can't believe they can do all that stuff."

The one who always gets things done... and is running on fumes by Thursday. The calls, the meetups, the drives, the taxi, the business meetings. And the face that says this is fine, I've got it under control.

The ones most at capacity are usually the ones who look the most capable. And they don't want to own up to it.

What's in this one

• Why the person everybody thinks is grand is usually the one struggling the most
• A manager I coach. Staff off sick, nobody to cover, so she works the day and the evening, and then even tracking her food feels too hard
• What actually happens if you stop at half seven or eight o'clock, and what you get back when you draw a line in the sand
• Another client who could feel burnout coming. We planned a recovery before she needed it, protected the morning, no meetings before nine. Nothing burnt down
• The dream world and the reality world, and why "Monday it's going to be fine" never is
• Stress test your list, pre-decide your stop time, tell one person
• My own stress test, with a brand new baby landing in the house and my sleep about to go
• A seventy year old man on a plane to Dubai, one of the first guys to have a mobile phone in his car (in his Ferrari), and why he took time away and held his hands up when he needed help

The line I'd leave you with

Tell one person you're at your limit. Nobody can help you if they don't know.

Your homework

Stress test your list. Everything on your plate for the next fortnight, score each of them out of ten. Does it need you ? Does it have to give you something back ?

Pre-decide your stop time, where your recovery comes in, and tell one person.

Then DM me on Instagram. I'd love to know what you change, what you dismiss, the people you say no to.

Come and tell me

Instagram: @onlinegordy
Web: onlinegordy.com

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Everybody's tried the quick fix. The training, the nutrition, the plan... and they get to a certain point and it stops.

So in this one I wanted to clear up why I work the way I do. And it goes back to the army. I got promoted quickly, and I used to hear sergeants say "this soldier's terrible". I'd ask them, have you actually coached him? Have you shown him how to do it properly? And the answer was nearly always no.

You're probably doing the same thing at home, in your business and with yourself. That's why I start where I start, with the hierarchy of needs, and it always starts with you.

What's in this one

• What 12 years in the army taught me about getting people past the ceiling everyone thinks they have
• Why frustrated business owners are usually the ones who haven't trained their staff, and how the same thing shows up in your health
• The hierarchy of needs from the bottom up, and why it's never static, it slides week to week with your life, your business and your hormones
• Where did you lose the last battle? What got in the way the last time you hit the brick wall?
• The now. The one nobody does properly, and why it usually ends up emotional when we crack it
• "I used to play hockey." "I used to be a prop." Why the old story keeps you stuck
• Your support network, and why the people who love you might be keeping you comfortable instead of moving you forward
• Plugging exercise into your life so it supports how you turn up as a leader, a parent and for your clients, without making your whole life about fitness

The line I'd leave you with

That's the story you tell your mates down the pub. What I want to know is where you're at right now.

Your homework

If this one hit home, drop me a DM on Instagram. Reach out and raise your hand, because I know I can help you where you're at right now.

Come and tell me

Instagram: @onlinegordy Web: onlinegordy.com

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