When I was working in corporate finance, I worked 80+ hour weeks.
I poured triple-shot coffees down my throat as I coordinated multinational rollouts between New York, Edinburgh, London, Germany, and Austria.
It was all about work. Work, work, work.
Then I collapsed.
Long story short, the doctor said I needed to stop working long hours and severely cut back on coffee. ☕
It wasn’t so much an epiphany, just common sense. I pushed myself too much and burned out.
I kinda did the same thing when I decided to quit the corporate world and work for myself. I hear the same from other solopreneur colleagues. Finding a work/life balance is hard.
This newsletter is about carving out some time for personal and professional growth and development.
The Four-Day Working Week
Last year, I read about companies trialling a four-day week and how productivity didn’t decrease – it actually increased similarly to remote working during the pandemic.
I told myself, starting in 2023, I’d give a four-day working week a try, and it’s been working out great.
I often get asked what clients think about me only working a 4-day week.
Honestly, it rarely comes up in conversation, and it’s not something I typically mention unless they try to arrange a meeting or something on a Friday.
A long time ago, I learned not to roll out website updates on a Friday. The weekend is just too hard to get technical support or get out of commitments to fix broken websites! I’ll tell you that story in another newsletter.
It’s not to say that I won’t work on a Friday, just I choose to keep that day clear of client work as much as possible. If there’s an emergency, I would, of course, attend to that (think alien invasion or zombie apocalypse).
What I Do On My Day Friday
I set aside my Fridays primarily for personal and professional development.
I hate the term “soft skills” because learning skills is hard, especially when you’re old! 🧓
Here are some current ways I’m trying to upskill and broaden my personal and professional skillset.
I’ve enrolled in the Stage Academy to help improve my voice during public speaking. I run several meetups, and I’m a regular conference attendee and speaker, so any improvement is a bonus.
As a premium user, I’ve always got a few LinkedIn Learning courses on the go or queued up in the playlist. Here are some I’ve recently completed.
- The Power Of Lists To Get Things Done
- Transform Your Personal Brand
- SEO Competitive Analysis
- Improving Your Memory
- Build Your Visibility As a Leader
I’m also a member of Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy, and I’m enrolled in Chris Ducker’s Youpreneur Incubator.
I spend a bit of time on each, learning new skills and applying them practically.
I also use the time to perfect my consultancy skills, applying automation in my business – I recently moved from Active Campaign to FluentCRM (mostly because of the 100% price hike!), and I recently wrote a plugin, “Email Blacklist For Elementor Forms“.
Personal Growth Is Important
WordPress is a rapidly evolving professional landscape, and you need to spend time honing your skills and learning new ones. Otherwise, you’ll stagnate and get left behind.
This isn’t a comprehensive list, but here are some skills that are useful to keep up to date in the WordPress world:
- The basics: HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP.
- Design principles: UX and UI.
- Search Engine Optimisation: technical, on-page, off-page and link building.
- Web security and data privacy best practices.
- Project and client management.
- Digital Marketing.
- Copywriting.
- Communication.
- Problem-solving.
- Time management.
- Budgeting.
- Teamwork and collaboration.
- Adaptability, for when things don’t go according to plan.
- Creative thinking.
There are some great WordPress learning resources at Learn WordPress. It’s being updated constantly.
Maximise Your Time
When you are learning, you need time to focus and think.
Get rid of distractions like email, social media and your phone. I like to put my phone on mute on Friday, and I have three times a day where I check for missed calls, emails and social media notifications. 📱📧
Look After Yourself And Skill Up
As well as physical and psychological well-being, you are your best asset. You don’t need to put an entire day aside as I do, but I urge you to think about the future and put aside some regular time for your personal and professional development.
Email me and let me know how much time you set aside and what courses and resources you use to grow your skillset.
Until next time.
Wil.
