#117 - A Funeral for Six Chairs: How to Find Your Values

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Six mint-green leather chairs shouldn’t be able to break your heart, and yet there I am, parked next to a skip, feeling like I’m holding a tiny funeral. That moment becomes the doorway into something much bigger: the way our values show up through emotion, and how boundaries often reveal themselves only when they get crossed. If you’ve ever felt “too sensitive” about something small, this chapter offers a kinder explanation and a practical way to learn from it.

From that story, we zoom out into time and values for creative business owners. I talk through why you can’t truly “manage your time” until you know what matters to you, because family rhythms, friendships, hobbies, self-care, therapy, and genuine rest aren’t extras, they’re values with time attached. We also name the common trap where organising and maintaining the business takes over the time you meant to spend making the work, and how values-based planning helps prevent overwhelm, resentment, and burnout.

We get concrete with tools that actually work: Parkinson’s Law, the difference between working in your business and working on it, and the daily question that cuts through busywork: what is the one thing that will bring my business forward today? I share how I structure limited work time, including morning pages, a bullet journal, and a “rebellious brain” workaround that supports ADHD tendencies without losing momentum. You’ll also get the weekly exercise, the sting test, plus a helpful pointer to Brené Brown’s values list so you can put clearer words to what you already feel.

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a fellow creative, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s a recent “sting” that might be pointing to one of your values?

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