Gill Moakes (00:02.01)
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Jo Moakes, and thank you so much for joining me again this week. What a beautiful few days it's been. I have been so enjoying the weather. It's been warm. It's felt so good. I've been outside loads.
want to share with you something I've discovered as well for my listeners who are fellow writers. Bird hides, bird hides on nature reserves are the best little outdoor writing cabins. Hardly anyone goes in them. And I literally had I spent a good hour and a half in this little bird hide at Aberton Reservoir, which is near me. Have a Google if you don't know is in the East Anglia.
in Essex where I live and I sat in this little bird hide for yeah a good hour and a half scribbling away in my notebook and every now and then you know someone would come in maybe a father and a son came in at one point and we're looking at the swans and the other birds on the water and then these three sort of twenty -somethings came in and all the time I'm eavesdropping obviously to everyone's conversations and I honestly
best creative sparks for writing. It was so good. And as I was doing it, I was thinking, well, this is something that I could turn into a bit of a habit, because I know lots of nature reserves where we are, where I live, it's kind of it's really well known for birds, because it's quite it's flat land, and it's marshy. So you get lots of places to go and look at the birds. So
Yeah, watch this space, I might actually share some more of my tales from the bird hide. Honestly, though, the little shutters inside come down for you to watch out of the little windows and the shutter that comes down makes the perfect writing desk. I loved it. It was so good. It was such a good way to spend a Sunday. And actually, you know, it was a really special way for me to spend a Sunday because I am
Gill Moakes (02:29.274)
saying no to alcohol at the moment. So went to a party on the Saturday didn't drink, which meant that on the Sunday, I just really wanted to intentionally do something. Because normally if I'm hungover, then I'm just not going to want to particularly do anything. It's such a bloody waste of a weekend. I hate it. So I really intentionally went out
put my little rucksack on, went out for a really lovely walk. That's when I discovered my little bird hide. So yeah, beautiful weekend. Beautiful, beautiful. I hope you had a good weekend too.
I want to talk a little bit about solo work this week. And this was something that came to me actually when I was writing in my little bird hide, because it was really perfect quiet time, all I could hear were the birds. And I find that when I get that quiet, I can finally listen to my own inner voice.
So that is my topic for today. It's about the importance of solo work, working alone sometimes.
and how that brings us back in touch with what matters to us. So let's dive in.
Gill Moakes (04:07.034)
So, you know what, running a business, especially for us female founders, it's really no small feat, is it? There are just so many decisions to make all the time. There are strategies to plan out. There are goals to set and achieve. And I think it's really easy to get lost in the noise of external opinions.
and the constant need for validation. And this episode is really about the power of listening to our own inner voice and how transformative solo work can be when we intentionally stop outsourcing our decisions and craving that validation externally.
This is a little bit as well, you know, you've heard me talk about this before, which is my absolute commitment for myself to balance what I consume with what I create. Because I think sometimes we get really out of balance and our consumption takes over. So when you
iClass consumption, for example, is anything that you are watching, listening to, like this podcast, watching, listening to, reading, learning, it's all of that external input that's coming in. If that gets out of balance, it really drowns out our own creativity and our own inner voice. So that's what this episode is about today. It's about
balancing and about honouring solo work time.
Gill Moakes (06:05.466)
listening.
You know, we are, it's the world we live in today. We're constantly bombarded with external advice and opinions and, you know, everyone's got a best practice for something. And I mean, social media don't even get me started, but it's, it's the networking events. It's the, all of the business gurus who have something to say about, you know, the way we should be running our businesses. And seeking advice can be super valuable.
Working with a coach, obviously I'm a little biased, but working with a coach incredibly valuable when it's done with intention and with a coach who has the integrity to make sure that you are not becoming completely dependent on them or dependent for their validation.
Because what happens when we get dependent on external validation is that we start second guessing everything, we start second guessing our instincts. And that's when we start outsourcing our decision making. But the truth is, no one knows your business and your vision, what you're trying to achieve for you better than you do.
So when we start relying really heavily on external input, we start diluting our own unique voice. And that's dangerous ground because it means that our own true purpose sometimes can get, you can start wavering from that because you've allowed other people's opinions who don't know you and
Gill Moakes (07:59.866)
your why as well as you do to influence you.
Right?
Gill Moakes (08:10.266)
So thinking about solo work, when I talk about solo work, it's not just about working alone. It's also about just creating space for that reflection, introspection. That's a good word, introspection. I love that word. It's about making space for creativity. It's about making space to genuinely connect with your inner self.
silencing external noise, tuning into your own thoughts and feelings.
And it has to be, I believe it has to be intentional. Because in the world we live in today, it's not our default setting, having silence is not our default setting.
Gill Moakes (09:06.298)
sorry Lena.
So intentionally creating space to allow you that time, that focus for inner work is so powerful. It lets you reconnect first of all with your own vision.
when you take time alone, you can revisit why you started that business in the first place. You without anyone else's opinion coming in, you can take some time to really go back why you buy this business. And that can often even that simple act of just take a little space to revisit that can absolutely reignite a
the passion and the purpose that fueled you in the first place. That can be really special.
I think solo work also lets you really cultivate your intuition. We've talked about intuition a lot recently, because it's something that I've been just working really hard on. This is the reason I'm talking about this a lot at the moment. Like everything with this podcast, it tends to be a reflection of the work that I'm doing personally. And I quite like that. I quite like that this is parallel work. This is what
Gill Moakes (10:39.418)
your doing is the same as what I'm doing. We're female founders doing our best to build a business that matters. And so I quite like that the work I'm doing is often parallel with what I talk about on this podcast to help you do the same, if that feels right for you. So cultivating intuition.
You can't not cultivate your intuition when you remove external input, right? You become way more confident in your decision making the more you work on cultivating your intuition. And when you start learning to trust your gut, listen to it and trust it.
You have this, it's a renewed sense of, I want to say it's a renewed sense of being in control. And I think that's okay. I'm not saying in a negative way. Control is a funny word, isn't it? It's come to have a lot of negative connotations. But actually, I'm someone who loves to feel in control of what I'm doing. And I like to work with intention.
And I think trusting my gut is really important for that.
Solo work also lets you boost your creativity. Sorry, Lina, I'll just do that again. Solo work also absolutely boosts your creativity. When you don't have that distraction of all the external stuff, your mind has the freedom to explore all the new ideas, new solutions.
Gill Moakes (12:33.314)
Creativity is... sorry, take out the last bit about creativity is.
Solo work can absolutely lead to some of the most creative breakthroughs. And also if you feel, if you work in a creative business, then taking some time out from the day to day of your business to quieten everything down can actually release a creative block that's been around for a while. It's a great way of
feeling into something new.
I think another thing that solo work does is it really enhances our self awareness. Because when we spend time alone, we can reflect on our own strengths and weaknesses, we can start thinking about areas for growth. And it begins to give us a much deeper understanding of ourselves.
And that's personally and professionally and in the work you do. One of the things that I've been doing some work around recently is my personality and how that shows up in my business. And it's great to have other people's input of what they think my personality is, but I'm just as interested.
Gill Moakes (14:10.074)
in doing some quiet work and really understanding my own personality and more to the point how I allow it to show up in my business.
Gill Moakes (14:23.834)
There are lots of ways you can do this. And I mean, sorry, I'll do that again. There are lots of ways that you can carve out this time in your schedule for solo work. It might be that like me, you decide to keep client work to set days of the week and then have one or two days that are that where you don't have any calendar appointments in your
diary so that you can really use some of that time for this quiet contemplative, I'll do that again, contemplative work. I don't know if I said contemplative right. Lena, I'm going to do it one more time. Contemplative work.
Gill Moakes (15:15.45)
I had to take a pause there because it took me so long to say contemplative, right?
Gill Moakes (15:25.146)
One of the ways, sorry, God lost it, lost it. So yeah, scheduling you time. So whatever you need to do to block out time in your calendar and dedicate it to working alone, solo time, without input from the radio, without music, without any input, getting quiet time, really important. Another thing you might want to think about is creating a
a different space to where you usually work. So that might even be outdoors. It could be so a bit like me with my bird hide. It could be getting in the habit of seeking out places that feel a little bit sacred, that feel a little bit special to do this kind of
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Giving yourself the gift of this uninterrupted focus, so turning off your phone, closing your emails, logging out of everything, honestly, it really is a gift. Really try and put boundaries around that so that you're doing it regularly.
I think journaling can be a great tool for this work. So journaling can really help you process your thoughts and ideas.
So that's something that you might want to try incorporating.
I think a lot of us when we think about doing this solo work, our minds will go to mindfulness and there is a lot of talk about mindfulness practices. So meditation, breathing, that kind of thing. And I love those practices for me. But I do know there are some people who just can't get on with telling themselves they're meditating, right? And you don't have to meditate to be in silence with yourself.
Some people would argue that that is meditating, but I think sometimes the mind block of telling yourself right now it is time to meditate. That doesn't work for some people and that's okay. That is okay. But it's still really valid to just try and carve out this input free time.
Gill Moakes (17:47.834)
And the other thing I want to come on to or the last thing really that I want to come on to is think about taking a solo retreat. And as you know, this is something that I'm working on at the moment. Rewild your business is the perfect example for this. It's a, it's a kind of a hybrid of what we've been talking about. So what I've been talking about so far with the, which is the input free time is something that I want you to think about doing.
weekly, if not daily, you can carve out a small amount of time for this every day, perfect. But at least every week having some time to do this silent time without any input. But I think another thing that's really worth exploring is taking a solo retreat. And even if it's for a day for a weekend, or like rewild your business, it's for five days where you're really going to block out time.
in your calendar, you're going to remove any client work from your calendar. You're not going to work on your sorry, you're not going to work in your business, you're going to work on it. And this can be a brilliant way of taking some time out from daily distractions, but still working on your business. So still having some input, some guidance to go through the week, which is what I give you in rewild your business, you're getting
guidance each day around different aspects of your business to rewild. So your vision, your brand.
sorry, Lena, your vision, your brand, your offers, your marketing, and then really looking at what your rewilded future can look like with your business through these beautiful, simple eyes.
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This is amazing time out to be able to laser focus in on yourself and how your business, how aligned is your business to you.
Gill Moakes (20:07.386)
So if that's something you'd like to find out more about, you can go to rewildyourbusiness .com for some more information. At the moment, it's a place where you can simply register your interest, but that will be replaced very shortly with some more information on what to expect, and you'll be able to purchase the retreat towards the end of this month.
It's a retreat which is delivered to you in the format of a digital offer. It's a digital kind of course format that you log into each day of your retreat. And it gives you meditations, it gives you audio lessons, it gives you a really comprehensive workbook to work through each day. We've got beautiful yoga practices, we've got other additional resources too.
So this is really a really special experience. You'll be able to carve out complete quiet time into your days as well. And this is really for you to do wherever you feel drawn to do it. I mean, it could be that you have no option but to do your retreat at home. And that's fine. I mean, don't get me wrong. If you can jet off to Bali and do your five day retreat there, wonderful, do it.
absolutely do it. But not that's not available for all of us with family commitments, etc. So you know, whatever you can do to carve out time for yourself, rewild your business is going to be a really special experience. And it's going to absolutely bring you back to what matters in your business. It's going to bring you back to the simplicity of what it really takes to grow your business.
because that gets very complicated in this noisy world and it doesn't have to be.
Gill Moakes (22:10.33)
So if rewilding your business is something that interests you, head to rewildyourbusiness .com, register your interest, and I will absolutely keep you posted and let you know when you can sign up for the retreat. And there will be lots more information coming over the next couple of weeks. So keep an eye open for that. But in the meantime, enjoy some quiet time.
this week. Enjoy some you time, time to reconnect.
Gill Moakes (22:47.066)
Okay, have a brilliant day. And remember, the most important voice that you need to listen to is not mine on this podcast, it's your own. Bye for now.
