I don’t know a lot about cars, but I know enough to realise that the flashing orange engine-shaped light on the dash was not a proclamation of good news, Reader.

Early Saturday morning, I drove to the beach while the rest of the family were still sleeping.

The engine was a little jumpy to begin with, normal on a cold morning, but when the engine light started flashing, I knew it was time to park somewhere safe, and accept the car was in need of professional help.

I was frustrated.

This is the car I share with Son#1 - he uses it to drive himself to uni 4 days a week.

And I’ve recently figured out that my energy and focus are more reliably at their best first thing in the morning - so I get the majority of the day’s work done between 7am and 10am.

The flashing engine light meant there’s a repair bill coming, and I’ve just lost that golden window of productivity each day, because I’ll need to drive Son#1 to campus 🙄

As I needed the soothing rolling crash of the waves even more now, I parked the car somewhere safe, went for my beach walk anyway.

As I got out of the car, I still felt that ‘oh tits this is less than ideal’ sinking feeling, but by the time my trainers hit the sand, I’d mellowed out, knowing we can deal with it.

And on Monday, I enjoyed having the company of Son#1 as I drove him to uni, and on the drive home, I admired the trees and loudly sang along to my Faves playlist (Bombay Bicycle Club, The Decemberists, and Royel Otis are featuring heavily right now, if you’re curious).

For the first 4 or 5 years of being self-employed, when shit like this happened, I’d feel responsible, that this was ‘Upper-limiting’ or ‘holding myself back’ or ‘playing small’ and those thoughts created feelings of guilt, and frustration, and resentment, and none of those things were helpful to me.

Chapter four of my little book, The Comfy Business Playbook, is called This Is Your Life: Getting Real about your reality.

It’s about how, for a long time, I wished I had more time, and fewer distractions, so I could be more focused on my work, but….

“Once I stopped waiting for a more comfortable life, and accepted my life as it really was, I was able to design a more comfortable business.” - Comfy Business Playbook, Laura Robinson (Chapter 4, page 44)

That chapter is worth a read if you’re saying to yourself something like ‘When things settle down, then I can focus more on my work’. You can read the chapters on their own - you don’t need to read the book in order, or you can skip straight to the journal questions at the end.

​Get a free digital copy of The Comfy Business Playbook here.​

P.S. If you’re a little bit interested in joining Marketing On Purpose, my 12-week marketing mentoring program, which opens again in January, go register for the waitlist as I’m working on a bonus and payment plan for anyone who secures their space before the end of this year.

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👋 The Who The Heck is Laura Reminder: Thanks for letting me squeeze into your inbox. ​ The Comfy Business Newsletter is for people who want to create and sell online offers that enable them to make the money they need, doing work they enjoy while allowing time, energy, and flexibility for whatever Life Stuff they've got going on. ​ You can find out more about me, and what I do over at worditude.co.uk​