Here’s how you have a Mandatory Lazy Day:

Pick a day in your not-so-far future that you can block off to be uninterrupted. I find that a weekend day usually works best. Label it “Mandatory Lazy Day” and let nothing and no one make their way into that day.

The day before your Mandatory Lazy Day, make sure you have easy food in your house. It can be leftovers, a simple salad, or frozen pizza for all I care. Make sure it will require minimal effort to prepare and put in your mouth.

On the morning of, stay in bed extra long. When you get up, don’t bother getting out of your PJs. Make your coffee or tea, eat your easy breakfast—whatever you’d like, but do it slowly and with minimal effort.

Turn on the TV, open a book, or sink into an epic game of Tetris on your phone. Veg the eff out. Be unapologetically lazy.

Eat when you’re hungry.

You’re not allowed to:

Turn on your computer or especially check your email.

Leave your house (unless you need to take your dog for a leisurely walk—extra points if you do that in your PJs).

Shower (unless you just really need to, but here’s where a long, hot bath is extremely encouraged).

Do anything that requires more than a little effort.

Do anything overtly productive.

Flake out and end it early—be lazy until bedtime and then go to bed. The world will be waiting for you tomorrow.

EXTRA BONUS POINTS: Turn off your phone the night before and leave it off until the morning after your Mandatory Lazy Day. With your phone off you will be less tempted to check your email, and you will have a full day without any outside input (except whatever book you’re reading or show you’re binging on). It becomes a full-world detox. Extra invigorating!

WHAT ELSE WOULD YOUR MANDATORY LAZY DAY INCLUDE? OPEN YOUR CALENDAR AND SCHEDULE YOUR NEXT LAZY DAY.

Success without sacrifice

Jenny Shih is a business coach who believes your career should support the life you want to live. When we had her on our podcast, she said, “Own what you want and refuse to give up what’s most important to you.” That resonated with us in a major way, along with her message to define success on your terms.

BEING BOSS: What is “success on your terms”?

JENNY SHIH: Success on your terms is a declaration of what you want to create both personally and professionally and what you’re not willing to give up to make it happen.

There are no rules for defining success on your terms, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.

You can define success as achieving certain professional accolades or a particular status in your industry. Success could also be measured by a certain dollar figure, the number of people positively impacted by what you do, or any other quantifiable measurement.

The only thing to keep in mind is that YOU have to define it; no one can define it for you!

“Your terms” are simply the guidelines by which you want to achieve success. Another way to look at it is to consider what you’re not willing to sacrifice to achieve success.

For example, I’m not willing to forgo sleep, eating healthy, or having quiet downtime on a daily basis. Others want time with their kids or to travel the world.

Another way to look at your terms would be considering what you value. Do you value health? Freedom? Time with family? Connection with others? New experiences? There are no right or wrong values, just those that are true to you. It’s those values that will guide you in setting your terms.

Once you know what success you want to achieve and what your terms are, you then set yourself up to achieve that success without giving up what really matters to you. Put a different way, you’re setting yourself up to achieve success in a holistic manner, honoring your professional aspirations and your personal desires.

BB: What advice would you give to someone who hasn’t yet defined success? How do you actually go about figuring out what success on your terms looks like?

JS: If you haven’t yet been able to define success on your terms, that’s okay! Most of us are conditioned to think we should or shouldn’t want certain things or that our life should or shouldn’t look a particular way. The first thing we need to do is acknowledge what we’ve been conditioned to believe and give ourselves permission to figure out what is really true for us.

Once you’ve given yourself permission, the next thing to do is look underneath the conditioning. It’s likely that you actually do know how you want to define success on your terms but that you’ve been afraid or hesitant to own it.

However, it could be possible that you really don’t know what success on your terms means to you. If that’s the case, the next step is to simply pay attention to how you spend your time on a daily basis and in the big picture of your life. As you do, notice if you’re happy about how you spend your time or if negative feelings arise. Being aware of your time and your emotions will point you in the right direction.

For example, if you find yourself working late at night and feel frustrated that you’re working late, that’s great information! Or, if you take a Friday off and love that you took the day off, that’s great information.

Whatever you notice is information that will help you figure out what matters most so you can define success for yourself.

Finally, it’s okay to not know what success means to you or what your terms are. We all go through phases in life when we’re changing from one set of values to another, and in those transition periods, we need to give ourselves permission to not know… and simply get curious.

BB: How does “success on your terms” help you prioritize, especially when you have a lot of things you want to accomplish and it all feels important, but you don’t have the energy, time, or money to easily make it happen?

JS: The best part about defining success on your terms is that it gives you constant guidance on what to do when conflicts like this arise. When we’ve set our sights on something we want to accomplish but we don’t have the energy, time, or money to make it happen, we need to check in with our definition of success and check in with our terms.

Sure, maybe we want to achieve that next big goal. But what is more important: being mindful of our energy expenditure or achieving that goal? Our definition of success on our terms will tell us whether we should back off on the goal or double down to make it happen. There is no one right answer, just the truth of what really matters to us.

If you reach a point where everything feels important and you’ve still bumped up against energy, time, or monetary constraints, it means it’s time to further refine your values and priorities, and reassess what you really want from life.

Success on your terms doesn’t mean you can always have it all. Success on your terms means you are being deliberate about what you want to create and how you want to create it. It means you’re not willing to sacrifice what matters most.

Jenny Shih is an uncompromising business coach who works with smart entrepreneurs to start, grow, and streamline successful online businesses without having to work long hours or make huge sacrifices. Learn more about her at jennyshih.com.

COMMUNICATING YOUR BOUNDARIES

It’s not enough to know your boundaries—you have to make sure the line you’ve drawn is clear to others, so that everyone is respectful and supportive of your choices when it comes to how you spend your time, money, and energy.

WRITE THEM DOWN: This first step will ensure that you’re crystal clear about your boundaries to yourself. Write them down and leave them in a place where you can easily find them for future reference.

TALK THEM OUT: Once you’ve written your boundaries down, share them out loud with your people—whether that be your life partner, business partner, or peers. Let them know what they can expect from you, ask them if they have any questions, and reciprocate by asking them if they have any boundaries they’d like to explain to you. It’s a two-way conversation and one that should be revisited quarterly because, again, as your business and life change, so will your boundaries.

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: One of the best ways to communicate a boundary is to respect them with your own actions. For example, if your boundary is to focus on your hobbies or family and to stop emailing on the weekends, then DON’T SEND EMAILS ON THE WEEKEND. It sounds obvious enough, but you’d be surprised at how many people set boundaries without actually respecting or practicing them themselves, and the people around you will take cues from you as to how sturdy your boundaries are. Don’t say “yes” to things that don’t nurture what you’re trying to build; say “no” to things that distract you from what you really want to be doing all day.

MAKE THEM POLICY: One of the simplest ways to communicate important boundaries is to include them in places like the signature of your email, the footer of your website, or the bio area of your social media profile. For example, the most boss creatives we know include their email policies and hours in the signature of their email or even in an auto-responder letter so that recipients know when they can expect a reply.

DEFINE YOUR DREAM JOB

So many of us jump into creative entrepreneurship with big dreams of what our creative careers will look like, only to quickly get bogged down with all the tasks, to-dos, and hats we wear to get all the jobs done. When your life feels consumed by the not-so-dreamy daily grind, it’s up to you to identify what you’re best at and what you actually want to be doing all day, and then use that to define your dream job. This doesn’t mean you won’t have to continue to wear many hats, but it will give you clarity on what it is you want to be known for. This “job description” will act as a boundary to keep you centered in doing the work that you’re best at and enjoy most, allowing you to decide what tasks you put on your to-do list and what you systemize or delegate to someone else.

TRY THIS: IF YOU COULD DO JUST ONE THING ALL DAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE? If you could quit doing one thing forever, what would go? Use the answers to these questions to begin writing out your dream job description and job title.

SCHEDULE EVERYTHING

The most common question we get is, how do we make time for all the stuff that we do? It’s as simple as this: we put it in our calendar. If it doesn’t get scheduled, it’s not happening. From working out to writing to “white space,” it’s not only going on the calendar but is given the same importance as a client meeting or deadline.

TRY THIS: TAKE STOCK OF YOUR EXISTING MEETINGS AND APPOINTMENTS. Do they properly reflect your boundaries and values? Whether you use a paper planner or digital calendar, try scheduling everything that is “non-negotiable” (like your workouts or quality time with your kids). Layer in creative work time and meetings on top of that. Then live by your calendar.

THE POST-IT NOTE METHOD

As much as we preach the value of doing the work and pride ourselves on having the kind of work ethic and discipline it takes to be successful creative entrepreneurs, there are days when we feel sluggish when it comes to tackling an ever-growing to-do list. We do love our systems and use project management software daily, but when we really need to get moving, we turn to an old-school method for getting shit done: bust out a pen and a Post-it note. When your full to-do list is paralyzing your ability to accomplish anything, simply write three things on a Post-it note that you want to complete today.

More often than not, you’ll get way more than three things done—but everything you manage to complete beyond the Post-it note is gravy. The note gives you the structure to accomplish just three things: write that newsletter, design that worksheet, and deliver on that deadline. Oftentimes, completing those three tasks will give you the confidence and momentum to keep going and tackle even more projects, but even if it doesn’t, you can leave knowing you completed the three most important things on your list.

TRY THIS: WRITE THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH ON A POST-IT NOTE. Be sure to break bigger tasks down into manageable to-dos. Cross things off the list as you go—there is truly nothing more satisfying.

LIST-MAKING MAGIC

By creating lists for yourself, you reduce the time you have to spend figuring out what to do next, because the answer is right in front of you on your lists! They hold your ideas, goals, and tasks so that you know exactly where to go and what to do when it’s time to start working. We like having a notebook on our desk and a text file on our phones for keeping track of our lists.

WEEKLY TO-DO LIST: Once a week, create a long list of the things you need to accomplish that week. We oftentimes create this list on a Sunday night as a way to decompress from the ideas bumping around in our heads, to help us chill for those last few hours of le weekend, and to prepare for the week ahead.

DAILY TO-DO LIST: Check your weekly list and move the most important or time-sensitive items over to your list-of-the-day, queued up for completion. Do this each day of your week until your weekly to-do list is completed!

PROJECT TASK LIST: Any large project that needs to be completed, especially if it will take longer than a week, gets its own list. Write down every task from start to finish (don’t worry about getting all of them; you’ll remember more along the way), and divvy them up among your weekly lists. Then get to work!

MEAL AND GROCERY LIST: Bosses gotta eat. Meal planning and grocery shopping is something most of us must do! By creating a meal plan and grocery list each week, you define what you need and don’t need to get at the grocery store, save yourself time because you’re most likely to get everything in a single trip, and know exactly what you’re going to eat for each meal in your week. It’s the holy grail in saving you time, money, and energy.

WANT LIST: Want a new mattress, a replacement dining room chair, a new tool for your business? We all have wants, so why not keep a list? Our want list is filled with all the things that we desire but don’t need to purchase in this moment. But when the time comes, it’s easy to whip out our list and check off the next important thing! Or share it when it’s time for gift-giving—your mom will thank you for finally being easy to buy for.

IDEA LIST: As a creative, you’re never lacking for ideas! By capturing them on a list, you’ll never have one slip away again. Keep a list of those brain nuggets in a little notebook that you carry with you, or on your smart phone for fast access. Then, when it’s time to create, you’ll have a bucket to access to get you started!