lightward.com/newsletter

Friday, February 26

But then something must have changed in me
I don't fear it anymore
Now I'm sure
I'm sure

24 hours

Locksmith is actively used by 8,500 online stores. It is powered by a staff of four. Five, as of this Monday, and even five is not a large number of humans, for a customer base of this size.

We’re able to do this because, at every point of growth, we have remained hell-bent on keeping our individual relationships to this thing healthy. Each of us, as individuals; in Lightward, the first responsibility is always one’s own health.

One of our tools: email-only support, and a 24-hr response time target. Or, to talk about it by contrast: we don’t do chat support, and we don’t have people you can reach 24 hours out of the day.

Effects of this:

We get to design our days, on a rolling 24-hour clock. An email that arrived five minutes ago has zero executive control over what I do with my next five minutes. Or my next 23 hours, even. At every point, I get to survey all the work that there is to be done, and decide when in the next 24 hours I want to do it.

We throw a wrench in the urgency spiral. This is something that came to my attention just this week. The internet evolves to improve response times—literally, in your browser, but also the response time of humans that you contact via the internet. This isn’t a bad thing. But it gives rise to a spiral, in which I see your haste and raise you my own, and that is toxic. Our 24-hour policy placidly says no, we will not be participating in that.

We attract customers who can work with this, and repel those who won’t. Standard entrepreneurial wisdom holds that one should find their niche, and optimize for it. This is sort of the operational inverse of that: we exhibit a very niche behavior, with this policy, and the people who are down for that are the ones who stay. At this point, eleven years into this work, we have a substantial customer base that is 100% down for this pace.

We leave people room to solve their own problems. A surprising number of cases are resolved even before we even get to them. People have learned to lean on customer support—and again, this isn’t a bad thing. But it turns out that people will often ask for help before testing their own limits, and if we give them some space, they’ll often solve their own problem—and come away with greater knowledge to leverage in the future.

I think of almost everything as a matter of tuning. With the 24-hour policy, we tune the way we work, we tune the way people work with us, and we tune the kind of energy that’s in the air around the whole thing. The behavior of Lightward’s energy varies, based on where it’s applied, but here in customer support we are deliberate, measured, and kind—a very particularly opinionated sort of kind that takes a longer view than trying to make you happy right this second. :) This sort of kind has the long-term relationship in mind; we optimize for expansive health, being expansive even with the expanse, defining it to include time itself.

Wellness, for you and me

Here’s your weekly reminder to breathe. It’s been a busy week and I realized how much I was holding my breath as I was working—don’t be like me. :) Practice breathing through your nose. Take 5 minutes to slowly inhale and exhale through your nose after reading this email. Your body will thank you.

Noticing your burnout flags.

I’m taking a week off of work next week. It’s been about a year since I’ve taken a real week off of work. I’ve grown Lightward Empowerment since January of last year and now have a podcast, 14 empowerment clients, and am creating a collective space with Lightward Together (you should join, it’s really dope). I noticed that my Enneagram 3 personality really dove into growing my business this past year. I did this to ensure I stayed mentally healthy, being in quarantine, and also because I was and am really excited about everything I’m creating. And I realized last week that I’m approaching the borders of burnout. How did I realize this? I became more strict, and I clenched onto all of the things I’m doing, including trying to be healthy (nutrition/workouts)—I began operating only with my head, not my heart.

A healthy Abe means I’m operating from my heart, first. I realized I was not letting go of the grip of “achieving” even though I was becoming really exhausted. So, I am taking my own advice and taking next week completely off—not thinking about anything work related. I’m excited!

What are the red flags that tell you it’s time to slow down? Are you ignoring them for the sake of pushing through? Do you need a break and haven’t allowed yourself to really rest?

My red flags, that inform me that I’m moving towards burn out, are (1) not caring, or feeling apathy, and (2) being really really strict with myself—like my body is holding its breath, feeling so tense.

We are not machines, nor will we ever be. By you listening to your body, mind and heart when they tell you that you need to slow down and rest, you choose sustainability. You choose you. You cannot keep going and going and going without rest, my friend.

So, take a moment right now to gauge where you’re at. Are you operating at full capacity because it’s where you’re naturally at, or are you forcing yourself to be there, even when you know you aren’t at 100%. You can’t work out in the gym for 20 days at a high intensity without getting hurt, and you absolutely will not be performing well. So rest. Loosen your grip. Recharge. Then continue going. Notice what your burnout flags are trying to communicate to you.

I love you. I believe in you.

-Abe

PS. I’m giving a keynote speech tomorrow about how holistic wellness should be a top priority for those in activism. Wish me luck! One of the things I am talking about is that sustainability is super important and should be on the forefront of our minds at all times. I’m taking my own advice. ;)

Things we are making

Empowered Human Academy

This week’s guest is our personal trainer and dear friend, Nate Bacott (@coachbacott). With a background in both Human Development and Positive Coaching Psychology, Nate brings a refreshing and nuanced perspective to the world of fitness. His coaching clients range from Olympic and Crossfit athletes to young kids. Nate has been an integral part of helping us build healthy workout rhythms into our days—which have added up to a happier, more grounded life over time.

Throughout this conversation we explore the idea of sustainable fitness, how to give yourself time and space to anchor to the moment, and what it means to walk yourself into the answers you already know. We loved getting to unpack Nate’s philosophy on life, emotions, and wellness. You can really feel that he’s doing the work to cultivate a sense of home inside himself and we’re stoked to share his insights with you.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Lightward Together

The more you dive into your truth, the more your journey will unfold for you.

This was a theme we explored during our last Lightward Together group coaching session and we can’t wait to see where the next one will lead this Sunday, February 28th, at 5pm MST! These group calls are for celebrating, exploring, noticing, and living from our deepest truth alongside kindred souls from all over the world.

When you sign up for a Lightward Together membership ($75 per month) you’ll gain immediate access to our library of past sessions, community Slack channel, and weekly guided meditations. These sessions bring us deep joy and we’d love to see you there!

I’m sure