Why Taking One Week “Off” Per Month is Good for Business
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Casey: [00:00:00] Hi
there, Casey Bergland here, your host for the PurposeMap podcast and founder of Worthy Well. In this episode, I would like to share with you why taking one week off a month is good for our business. This feels important to talk about because I keep getting messages when I'm in my journal, when I'm in my spiritual practice.
I keep getting messages to model a new way of being, a new way of working, a new way of doing business. And so I'm feeling called more and more to share about some of what we do in our business that is in alignment with creating more space, more opportunity for Rest for play, for joy, for ease and flow rather than hustle and burnout and grinding, grinding yourself to the bone.
So for the last [00:01:00] few years, we have in Worthy and Well, had one week every single month that we call our integration week. And this is one week, every single month, where I do not book any clients, any group calls, any meetings. I keep it wide open. And I keep it wide open for a really good reason. One, because sometimes I need to do some personal processing.
For example, when my dad passed away this summer, having one week in that month where I didn't have to think about rescheduling anything, I didn't have to think about what I was going to do with my work, allowed me to just be with my family. Be in my personal process and already inherently not feel pressure to figure out ways to create space.
So one of the reasons why it's important for me to take one week off a [00:02:00] month is for that purpose. When it comes to grounding into my own wisdom and letting my body lead, I have noticed that it's something I need to create space for. Another reason why taking one week off per month, in other words, having one week where there are no meetings booked in the calendar, no commitments, is this creates an openness and a freedom for me to flow.
Sometimes on our integration week, I am feeling very creative. And because I have so much white space, I have an opportunity to create in a way that I cannot when I am seeing clients. Sometimes, in this integration week, I record multiple podcasts, or I write, or I am able to flow in a creative way through some work that I wouldn't otherwise get done when my schedule is really jam packed.
Both of those reasons [00:03:00] having the opportunity for personal space, having the opportunity for creativity, having the opportunity to just allow my intuition to lead, to offer myself what I need in that moment in time. Those are all reasons why this one week off a month is valuable. Come to think of it, I think I started this when I became interested in building a business around my natural cycles.
And I actually scheduled that one week off a month in the week prior to my menstrual cycle. In part because I know that my energy typically is lower, more, internal. I often want to hibernate and be cozy in that time. And so in order to align with my body's needs, I think that is the reason why this originally started.
And it's something that stuck because it works. Now, I can already imagine that you might be thinking, Cool, Casey, like this sounds good for you and good for your team, but I'm in a 9 5 [00:04:00] job, or in my business, I'm charging hourly, so if I'm not working, I'm not making money. Or whatever other reason or resistance you might have to inviting in this idea.
All of that makes perfect sense. If you are in a 9 5 job, this might be challenging. If you are earning a living through charging hourly, this might be challenging. I say it might be challenging, not impossible, because I want to remind you that you are a divine being with the power to choose anything that you want.
So, even if... You're currently in a corporate job, a nine to five job, even if you're currently charging dollars per hour, even if whatever your circumstance might be, that makes this feel difficult, even if that's true, you still have choice. And I want to remind you of that over and over and over not. To not acknowledge the challenges that might be there, but to remind [00:05:00] you that in this new way of doing business in this new way of living and leading, we do it from an empowered place of I am accountable to my own life and I have choice.
So here's why it works for our business. I have not charged dollars per hour for many, many years. I recognize that the value that I bring to my clients comes from my frequency, my alignment, my wisdom that has been developed over my whole lifetime. And in particular, the last 15 years of receiving training in so many modalities.
That helped to serve people in the way that I do because the value comes from my frequency, my alignment, my wisdom. Well, I need to create opportunities to expand my alignment, my wisdom, [00:06:00] my frequency. How do I do that? By giving myself space to learn, to do my spiritual practice, to tune in to higher wisdom, to channel, to journal, to think about my clients, to meditate, to pull forth wisdom that doesn't always come when I'm busy.
So it's really important for me to have that time off in order to create that space. And it works because... I'm not charging for my time, my clients pay for their program if it's a group program. So if they're part of the next level success 30 day intensive or the let your body lead facilitator training, or if they're a one on one client, they are paying a fee for the program.
And my one on one clients are paying a retainer for my wisdom. They're paying me the same amount per month. With me taking one week out of that month [00:07:00] off, so this works. I don't have to feel bad or like it's constrictive to take time off because I'm still getting paid. I'm getting paid for deepening my wisdom now.
At the time that you're listening to this, if it's in real time, if it's the day that we posted it, this is one of our integration weeks. I'm recording this episode in advance of our integration week. And while you're listening to this episode, if it is in real time, I am in Spain without my phone, without my computer, without looking at technology, giving my consciousness.
A digital break and I am dropped in with someone who I am excited to be in deep connection with I am nurturing my personal life and I am nurturing my relationship and I'm also highly aware that because this relationship is coming to me at this moment in time, I am [00:08:00] also nurturing the mission that he and I are on the planet to serve, even if I don't see it yet.
And so from this place, it is so easy for me to see how much value I offer through being through being able to drop in and nurture this connection through expanding my joy and my delight and my sensuality. Remember, I said people pay me for my frequency. How do I elevate my frequency? I expand my joy and my delight, my sensuality.
I have fun. I explore Spain. This is my work. When you are doing purpose driven work that is in alignment with who you are and what you're truly here for, or in other words, when you are grounded into your authenticity and you are pulling your sacred gifts out to serve the world, your life becomes one integrated whole.
There's no... Work life balance. It's a big, old, authentic integration. When [00:09:00] I am seeing clients, I am in alignment. When I am resting, I am in alignment. When I am waking up in the morning and doing my morning journaling practice, I am in alignment and all of that serves my work and all of that serves my life.
So for me, being able to do this is incredible. I mean, it's more fun. It keeps me from burning out. It allows me to deepen my wisdom. At this moment in time, as you're listening to this, if it is in real time, this integration week also aligns with the integration week of all of our Worthy and Well clients in our group programs.
So the folks who are in Next Level Success 30 Day Intensive, this is a week where they don't have class, and the invitation for them during this week is to live by their design and pay attention to what they've learned about the energy levels in order to elevate their consciousness. At [00:10:00] this moment in time, our Next Level Success clients have learned about energy leadership and the seven levels of awareness.
And we've done a deep dive into their own unique makeup of those seven levels of energy to help them in becoming more empowered in their leadership. They have also deeply explored their human design. And we have created resources to support them with living it out. One of the big things about Next Level Success 30 Day Intensive is like, no, this program isn't here for you to do more or hustle more in order to attract your next level.
The purpose of this program is to get you really, really super aligned so that you become a magnet. To your next level. This is the power of consciousness work and frequency work and energy work. You become magnetic because you elevate your awareness and your vibe and you become so absolutely attractive.[00:11:00]
So while I'm in Spain. Next level success clients are living their lives. They're letting their bodies lead. They are resting. They are tuning into what's important to them. They are following their strategy and authority according to human design, and they are experimenting with the magic that they can create through what they've learned so far about consciousness and energy.
Our clients in the let your body lead facilitator training. They're on their integration week at this moment in time, they have just learned a lot about creating a core transformational offer for their life giving client and about up leveled sales skills that are aligned with the new paradigm, the less hustle, less burnout, more attraction and magnetism paradigm.
So in their integration week, they are taking care of their bodies. They their families dropped into their intuition. They might be [00:12:00] reflecting or opening themselves up to receiving wisdom on how they can make their offer even better. They are with their energy attracting people to them to serve. All of that magic is happening while we rest and play and drop into our lives in a meaningful way.
Integration is such a critical part of any growth. process. You may have listened to one of our recent episodes, integration and your next level of strength with Hannah Powley, where we talk about the importance of centering, grounding, pausing, especially when there's lots going on in the world, especially when there are a lot of distractions or a lot of energies pulling you from your centre.
Having this space blocked off to come back, come back to your body, come back to yourself, come back to your truth. is one of the most productive things you could be doing. [00:13:00] And maybe for you, integration isn't one week out of every month, like it is for us. Maybe you have your own version of what you need, what your energetic patterns are, where you need that rest and re centering.
And, regardless, I invite you to create that space in whatever rhythm works for you. Sometimes if we don't create the space intentionally, it's far too easy to just fill up our schedules and avoid ourselves and avoid that, like, inner experiment of aligning with self. Now, I, maybe you know this already, am a mental projector according to human design.
And. What it means to be a mental projector is to be someone whose wisdom and authority is meant to be shared with the world. I take in other people through my intuition, through the sensations I feel in my body, and I guide and direct [00:14:00] others through the definition I have in my mind and my inspiration centers.
As a projector, it is my strategy to wait for an invitation. And it is my authority to be in environments that support me with finding my truth. Having incredible people in my life who can hold space for me and help me soundboard so that I can hear my own wisdom come through. Because this is my design, and because as a projector, it's also very aligned to only work, you know, three hours a day.
Or to have lots of spaciousness in order to hone my wisdom. And in order to... Elevate my frequency. These are other reasons why an integration week is so critical to me. Having an integration week, one week out of every month, where I have the freedom and flexibility to do or not do, depending on my flow.[00:15:00]
This is what I want you to know, there is not only one way to experience success. And when I say success in this context, I am talking about that traditional financial success. Of course, Define success for yourself. It can mean so much more than that. But there's not one way to create success. It does not have to be that you burn yourself into the ground in order to receive more money, especially as a business owner.
You do not need to work harder in order to receive more money. In fact, that is not sustainable. Prior to living in alignment, prior to really grounding into letting my body lead, prior to learning about human design, I would consistently find myself in these moments of burnout. Who am I serving when I'm burnt out?
Absolutely. No one is my energy attractive or magnetic when I'm burnt out. Absolutely not. People want to be uplifted and [00:16:00] inspired by my inner resources. I give more from my overflow. It is so, so important that I have time and space. Now I'm just talking about me. I also shared examples from our next level success, 30 day intensive clients, as well as our let your body lead facilitator training clients.
Our team. takes an integration week, one week out of every month. We do not have team meeting, a team meeting, that week. It is free. It is free for folks to live by their design. In some ways, this also makes us more efficient. Because when we have doing to do, like for example, This podcast is recorded prior to our integration week so that it can be published the Monday of our integration week.
When we have that one week off, we are more efficient and streamlined in our doing. We plan ahead a little bit more so that we can fully rest, [00:17:00] relax, restore in that time. So if you're someone who is If you're working really hard, if you're feeling depleted, if you're experiencing overwhelm, or a sense of stuckness, or like your energy needs some recovery.
Especially you, I invite you to see where you can block off even a little bit of time. Can you take one full day off, one weekend off? Can you have one night per week that maybe you have like three hours where you plan to not fill it, to do nothing, to allow yourself to drop into intuition? Are you able to create more space in your life?
For flow, I highly recommend that you do because it is in those moments that you will restore yourself. If you are someone who is feeling energized now, wow, what's coming to me right now is one of my clients [00:18:00] who when he starts to really take care of himself and like go to the gym and eat healthy and like create space for himself and have a morning routine.
He starts to feel like invincible and powerful and then he starts to let go of his working out, his eating well, his morning routine. And it becomes this vicious cycle of, Ooh, I feel good. So now I can push myself much harder. If you're someone like that, I invite you to keep your integration space, no matter how you're feeling, because If we then fill that space just because we have a bit of energy in that time, sometimes we're not offering ourselves the opportunity to fully restore and energize.
That's all for today. I'm so curious what this episode brought up for you. To integrate, really think about where you can build a bit more space in your day. And in that space, how can you connect more deeply with yourself? [00:19:00] I'm getting a little intuitive tap on the shoulder to not end yet. There's something that's coming to me right now.
I'm noticing this pattern with some people. Right now the pattern is actually in men. In my male clients. Men who have built incredibly successful businesses. Who have made a lot of money. Their businesses are making millions. These men, when they start to do this process of working with me, they want more space because they're overwhelmed, their bodies are falling apart, they're having mental health issues, there are relationship dynamics that are coming to the surface, so, so we work together because they want to create more space.
But then there is a huge amount of resistance when that space is actually created because they are so fearful. Of seeing what is inside of themself when they're not working so hard. I'm feeling called to share this because I want you to feel seen and [00:20:00] validated. That if you're someone who, as much as you would like space, you're terrified of space.
That that's completely natural if your workaholism has come from a place of trauma. If your workaholism has come from a place of avoiding yourself, it's completely natural to fill space with work. If you are nervous for what you might find in the space that you create, anyone in your shoes would continue the pattern of working too hard.
If this is you, I just invite you to meet yourself with compassion there and maybe to even reach out for support because sometimes what needs to happen is you need to slowly and gradually create space for yourself in the presence of another. In other words, an example of this is when my, those men, those one on one clients book a coaching session with me.
It's like, that's a 90 minute block where they're creating space for themselves. And. [00:21:00] I'm here to support them with processing whatever comes up in that space. Sometimes we need to slowly ease into creating space for ourselves, especially when the space is being filled because of a prior trauma or a fear of going inside, a fear of being with one's own thoughts, etc.
You're not alone. There are many of us who are scared of being with our own thoughts. Being with our own inner wisdom, if this is you and you want some support because you know that the path you're on is not sustainable because there are areas of your life that are falling apart because you cannot create space for yourself or space for your family, I am here to support you.
If this is you, send me an email. Info at worthy and well. com send us a direct message on the social media platform of your choice at worthy and well, or Casey may Bergland. I am here to support with [00:22:00] that. I'd love for you to send this episode to someone who needs it, who comes to mind. When you listen to this, who needs to hear this message about creating space?
Maybe it is the archetype of the man who I just described. The very successful business owner who has a hard time creating space for himself because he is scared of what he might find inside in that space. Maybe this is for you if you are feeling overwhelmed or you're recovering from burnout and you need a little extra permission to take the time that you need.
Maybe this is for you if you're feeling good right now. If you are in a space of things flowing and you want to prevent overwhelm or feeling constricted in your body in the future. Maybe this is for you if you're just inspired by this [00:23:00] conversation. Maybe this is for a friend of yours, a partner of yours, a business owner who you know.
I invite you to share this with one person and watch the ripples. Thank you so much for tuning in. Take really good care and I'll talk to you very soon.
