Things I Wish I Learned Sooner Part 6

I bought my first camera in 2011.

I started my business in 2013.

I went full-time in 2017.

…and there are so many things that I wish I figured out earlier!

This new summer blog series is going to explore a few of the lessons it took me entirely too long to learn. Catch up on the rest of the series!

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4  |  Part 5

The Pictures Can Wait

I am writing this because I’ve come across others in my DMs who experience the same feelings I do when it comes to editing and delivering a session. Pressure. Stress. Anxiety. Weight.

I am ‘type A’.

My StrengthsFinder 2.0 test shows ‘Achiever’ off the charts.

I have a lot of anxiety tied to work and productivity.

This one is a lesson I am still learning, and that is that the pictures can wait.

By default, my nature is to edit + deliver immediately. I have never been able to procrastinate. If there is something on my ‘to-do list’ I need to cross it off. If I had a gallery to deliver, it meant I would stay at my computer until it was completed. If I had a lot of sessions in the queue, it meant a very unhealthy work/life balance.

I started with baby steps on this one!

I would let myself take the dogs on a 10-minute walk, and realize that the world didn’t end because I took a break.

Walks graduated me into 30-minute yoga sessions.

Eventually, I started taking longer trips to the barn to ride my horse, even though there was a pile of work waiting for me. Again, nothing bad happened when I was away from my desk! It sounds so trivial, but truthfully, several years ago I would never let myself go ride if there was still work to be done. I used to only stop for breaks when the work was completed.

Quite literally, I have to add breaks into my ‘to-do list’ to ensure that I step away from my desk. But it has been working for me! Each time I step away I feel less self-inflicted guilt for doing so. Each break gives me more confidence to schedule the next one!