Aligning Actions with Priorities | How We Figured Out That Doing It All & Being It All Isn’t ALL It’s Cracked Up To Be

This is our fourth wedding season. We’re not saying we have everything figured out, but we are saying that we’ve made some adjustments to our business as we’ve learned, grown, and experienced various situations. One piece of advice we have for you (no matter what type of business you’re in & even if you don’t own your own business) is this: take a deep look within yourself and determine what your priorities are in life then adjust everything- and we mean EVERYTHING- according to those priorities. If you’re living in accordance with your life’s priorities, you’ll be happier, healthier, and more at peace.

Now that we’re nearing the end of August 2014, we can confidently say that August 2014 kicked August 2013’s booty! Why? Because in August 2013, we did not have a single day off. Not one solitary day. We shot 6 weddings that month; worked in our office every single day of every week editing, answering emails, taking phone calls, blogging, etc; shot senior sessions, engagement sessions, & family sessions; and had consultations and meetings throughout the week on the nights we weren’t shooting sessions. We literally did not have a day or night off from work. And guess what? We did that to ourselves. We make our schedule. And August 2013 burnt us out. Being burnt out is not a good feeling for creatives. We love shooting. We love meeting new people. We feel blessed to share wedding days with our couples. But all work and no play…you know the end of that quote.

After 2013, we took a discerning look at what our business was doing to us. We felt that we barely saw our family members and friends last year. We felt that we didn’t make time to grow spiritually last year. We felt that we didn’t make time for healthy food choices last year. The vast majority of our time was devoted to our business. . . and that just couldn’t continue if we wanted to thrive in accordance with our priorities. So we aligned our lives with our priorities. We took the downtime of our slow shooting season (January-March) and revamped everything. We blocked off one night per week as a date night. We raised our prices for senior sessions and family sessions knowing full well that would result in booking less of those types of sessions. We carved out time in our daily schedules for spiritual rejuvenation. We made time in our lives for our family and our friends. We also made time for personal projects so that our creativity can be stoked and polished in ways other than “work.” We streamlined and organized our workflow in order to be as efficient as possible.

Because of these changes, we feel more at peace and more whole. We feel calmer, more relaxed, and happier. Last year, we shot 23 weddings from March-December. So far this year, we’ve shot 24 and, by December, we will have shot 41. Paradoxically, in almost doubling the amount of weddings this year, we’re less busy, more at peace, calmer, and more efficient. We owe all of this to having realigned our actions with our priorities. We’re not saying that we have this perfected. We still make the wrong decisions sometimes. . . decisions that don’t align with our priorities.  But we’re figuring it out as we go & it’s coming together nicely.

So why did August 2014 kick August 2013’s booty? In August 2013, we worked. In August 2014, we worked AND we went to FOUR cookouts with our extended family (one of those, we hosted at our house), we had four date nights, we went on a pug play date, we had announcement photos taken for my pregnancy, we took an entire week off from work (What?! Unheard of!), we went to our church’s annual picnic, we hiked with my parents, sister, and her boyfriend at Nelson’s Ledges State Park, we went to our friend’s picnic for their business since we’re past customers, we went to an 80’s party hosted by our 7-year-old cousin, we went for walks with our pugs, we worked out together, we went to the Canfield Fair, and we had dinner with our friends (one of whom is moving to Boston next week). Amazing. Wonderful. Living life. That’s what life is about!

Sometimes when you have your own business, you put undue pressure on yourself. You want to hustle always. Work always. Be the best. Never rest. There is nothing wrong with ambition or hard work. Honestly, you do have to work harder when you are working if you want to have time to enjoy yourself and your priorities in life when you’re not working. And working harder is much more fulfilling in so many ways.Whether you have a business or not, we highly encourage you to take some quiet time and figure out your priorities. Write them down. Say them out loud. Then determine what you need to do in order to arrange your life and your actions so that you’re living according to those priorities.

Here are a few of the fun photos that August 2014 yielded:  🙂

My dad with my nephew, Mason.My Uncle Dale with his granddaughter, Belle, and grandson, Isaac.Dad roasting weiners. Belle looking quite intently as her cousin Isaac eats his s’more.My beautiful G-ma and Mason.Ahhhh, campfires & s’mores!My mom & my nephew Landon.My mom said, “Let me wipe off his face. It’s covered in food.” I said, “No. That’s exactly how I want it to look! He’s a baby!” 🙂Our family likes to hike in Nelson’s Ledges State Park. It’s one of my dad’s favorite places & my parents have been taking us there since we were kids.My sister Lisa.You climb through tight crevices in the rock at points.Photographic evidence of the 80s party that my little cousin Aubrey wanted to have will live on forever. You’re welcome, Everyone.Lisa & her boyfriend Scott.Oh goodness. The Workman sisters looking, like, totally rad.My sister, Angie, whom you’ll never believe has four kids…two of them being 8 month old twins! Hottie. Although her three-year-old daughter, Addison, said she looked scary that day. haha! Thanks for reading! Hope this helps someone dig themselves out of the “all work and no play” hole!

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