Bleisure

Episode #51 - Bleisure (EDITED)

Tue, Apr 02, 2024 11: 09AM • 20:18

Tue, Apr 02, 2024 11: SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Tue, Apr 02, 2024 11: work, days, travel, business, stay, holiday, leisure, trip, conferences, emma, care, year, photoshoot, lovell, tour manager, episode, life, book, extra, talking

00: 01

00: Do you want to live a life of freedom and adventure? Are you wanting more than the daily grind? Me too. Welcome to the Emma Lovell show, a place where we talk about living a life you love now, I'm your host, Emma Lovell, and my number one value is freedom. I've spent the last 14 years running a business and traveling the world. And now I take my husband and toddler along for the adventure to it's possible and I know you can create a life doing what you truly love as well. This podcast will inspire, motivate and encourage you to go after your dreams to create a life you love until you get now don't wait for a time and or someday in the future. I'll be sharing episodes weekly about how I harmonize business travel and self care. I'll also bring on incredible guests to share their journeys, wins the challenges and how they're creating a life they love. Let's jump in and get dreaming. This is a space for you to manifest a life you love.

01: 03

01: I would like to acknowledge and recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this place now known as Australia. I am grateful for the continuing care of the land waterways and skies where I work live. Listen, learn and play. From here on you can bear country and from wherever you are listening, I pay my respects to the elders past and present.

01: 26

01: Hello, lovely and welcome to today's episode, I am going to be talking to you about leisure.

01: 34

01: leisure. No, I did not make that word up. It is a word. It is a concept. But I am absolutely embracing it. And going full force with it. bleisure if you didn't catch on is combining business plus leisure. It's the art of bringing it all together. And not having this whole work work work holiday thing, which I think was so nice to me to discover. Because it was like, I guess I've been doing this all along?

02: 08

02: How I run my business and travel the world. That's letter. But there's sort of, yeah, sort of more. I think people then see they're like, Well, yeah, but I don't run a business. So how can I travel, it's like there's ways to include more leisure in your life, no matter your working situation. And I want to show you how. So today, I just want to introduce this topic and be talking about it a lot more. I love this topic so much. I'm actually writing a book about it.

02: 38

02: I think I've announced it here a few times. But my book, The Art of pleasure will be coming out this year. I'm writing it. I'm working on it as we speak. And I spoke at UTS last week, which was incredible.

02: 53

02: About the ultimate career path and how I have managed to run my business and travel the world. How I'm living a life I love. And you know, that's really through this bleisure attitude and it's bleisure focus and this blender concept of philosophy. I don't know what are we gonna call it? What are we gonna call it.

03: 13

03: And it really built the foundation for

03: 16

03: sort of knew where the book was gonna go. But for me, living a life I love means having my business, having my travel, having my self care, having all those things which I've channeled through retreats retreats are like, hello, the ultimate pleasure. But yeah, business travel and self care that they're the pillars upon which I stand upon which my coaching stands, and how I can support people because I've experienced all of them. And I have episodes on each, but I'm really kind of bringing things together. If you want to hear I did do an episode about this. Episode number three, I believe is how I should actually set up how I run my business and travel the world. So I did that episode really early on for the podcast. But I also did some episodes business travel self care separately, just to explain my focus in those areas. So yeah, episode three was how I run my business and travel the world and sharing tips and information about how I've done it over the years.

04: 17

04: But yeah, really sort of evolved from the way that I've I've done it over the years as well. And as I said, you know, it was, you know, sort of used to be

04: 29

04: more about work, work work, like, early on, I work a lot and then I traveled and then I would work while I was away sometimes for months at a time, sometimes two months, sometimes 10 days, but I would the business would always continue. I think there's only been one holiday in particular that I remember. My husband and I went away and I said I was stopping the business. But by the end of that was three and a half weeks in India was like I don't want to work I want to just enjoy and then obviously my brain never stops ticking but also by the end I was like oh my gosh, I have no clue.

05: 00

05: I swear I'm coming back, I'm really stressed though.

05: 03

05: I didn't realize I didn't have to do it that way that I didn't have to stop the business and then travel or just do contracts and then go, I'm going away and I'm off duty. It's like, I can incorporate it in, which is really lovely. So

05: 17

05: but yeah, I mean, how did I get to this sort of real point, um, you know, having had the experience of a pad of physical injury, I broke my back. And then I had basically

05: 32

05: mental break and breakdown, or mental health challenges.

05: 38

05: I realized how important self care was. And I really wanted to make sure that that was incorporated into my life and into my work. Because I've seen, yeah, that even though the work and the travel is great, you know, I was doing the same thing, you know, like, people work all year, go away for four weeks of the year.

06: 01

06: You kind of finally relaxed and you come, then you come back and you start again, and exhaust yourself again, I was doing the same, but like, running my business like full force, and then going away and having this amazing trips, and then, you know, coming back, sometimes broke, and then having to do it all. Again, it's just not ideal. So

06: 21

06: I wanted to make sure that I was taking breaks regularly and like, including self care. So I've stopped doing things in such extremes. And I've now incorporated the travel and the self care into what I'm doing with my business. And so that means bleisure. And I'm fully embracing this art of glitter. So again, it's business plus leisure. And it's the art of including traveling your work. And I do think I'm quite the artist, but I just I just don't subscribe to The Work, work, work play. And, you know, when in 2010, I was working so hard to pay down debts, like first year into my business years ago, I was trying to save or pay for a plane ticket to work. And then I just go through this amazing trip. And

07: 09

07: it's just it's not sustainable. It's not healthy. But bleisure is the fusion of business and leisure. So it's where you take the time whilst you're doing your work. So potentially on a weekend away, or incorporate the holiday element into the work you're really doing. It's not business over here and travel over here or holiday over here and then go back to work. It's like, you can include the leisure and fun as you go. It's amalgamating and bringing together your life like we just just don't separate, we don't have to separate I'm at work now. And then I'm having fun now. We can have fun at work or we can have fun doing our work. But we can also

07: 47

07: find ways to add in more leisure.

07: 50

07: Working with em is an easy decision to make. her generosity and expertise are only surpassed by her absolute 100% Actually 120% investment in you and yourself your success your mindset, I cannot recommend working with him highly enough. Hi, I'm Justin McLean. I worked with Mr. Pre my photoshoot, she was so knowledgeable, so supportive and really helped me nail my messaging through pictures, I would highly recommend working with Emma, she is kind supportive and someone you need on your team.

08: 29

08: So learning this term is just so fun.

08: 35

08: You know, the other thing is that people go, you know, there's there's the like feast or famine thing that I'm doing. But then there's other way that people do it. And they don't take breaks at all. So they're not taking risks. They're not taking holidays, or they're saving and all that for one day someday in the future. Like we sort of saw with COVID people

08: 52

08: saving up this like life time trips, they really saved years for work for and then obviously unfortunately COVID came along and took that away or people are so used to they're like one big trip a year as opposed to having a little little things that took you up through the year.

09: 09

09: And I just think it can be so simple. It can be as simple as adding an extra day to your to your work trip. So how often do we go and say there's a work conference and the work conference goes from Wednesday to Friday or the work event goes Thursday and Friday

09: 24

09: finishes?

09: 27

09: Are you have the event on a Friday night and then first thing Saturday morning, you head home. And obviously if you've got a family or other commitments, sometimes that's necessary, but I know so many people who don't have those things, or they could just take and even myself included could just take one more night instead of just finishing the work, going full force being in this environment doing all this stuff being on because networking and socializing through work is still working. And then you just go straight back to life when you're in this beautiful place and sometimes we've conferences

10: 00

10: And events like that, which is why I'm sometimes not a fan, you don't even get to enjoy the place you're in, we stay in these stunning resorts, and you don't even get to enjoy it, because you have all in the events all the time and you're on a program. And then you just leave, why don't you just take one or two nights extra or get there early, one day before, take one day of leave, if you're in a full time job, you're a business owner, take your laptop, work from there.

10: 25

10: And just give yourself that extra time and space like one extra morning in that place. One extra evening in that place, one day after the event. This is really important with conferences and things like that to download all the things that you've learned, you've gone and you've had all your mind expanded, you've met new people, you've made new connections. And then if you don't give yourself time, you don't actually get to integrate that information is write a bunch of notes, shove them in a drawer, get on with your day again, get on with your life again, why don't we just add a couple of days, and you might and then you can spread out your leave as well. My dad did this really well, once we were in high school, and he had sort of more freedom to do that when it wasn't required for parenting. But he would, you know, I'd say he'd go to these conferences overseas, at least twice a year, maybe three times. They ran during the week, the meetings would run. These were in places all over Asia all over the world. And he would then stay for the weekend. Or maybe he'd have two days extra. So he was away, work or paid for it.

11: 31

11: They've done his job. Why don't you just stay so he would stay away for seven days or eight days, you'd only gone three days of work. He'd only taken one or two days off, because

11: 43

11: you know, he was paid for the days of the work. And he's got to explore a country. And how do I know this? I know it because he told me but I also know because I went with him. I used to work for the same organization that my dad did. I Australian Federation of international freight forwarders. And I would go to these meetings and conferences and I was working as PR marketing and I'd help at these events. And then we'd stay on for four or five days and get to enjoy Japan, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, like in Nepal, we stayed on for another five days. So all up down probably took off like three days or something or maybe five days, but he was away 10 or 12. And we tracked in MJ bizarre part of the way to Everest base camp, because we were already there. You already had the flights booked. You already had had most of your expenses covered because you were there for work. Why not just extend a little bit? And I'm sure most workplaces or if you're the business owner, ask yourself would allow that. Why are we rushing back and I've done it myself with trips where I was the tour manager. And I'm kicking myself because at the time the younger and I would think oh Marty away for 10 days.

12: 56

12: But you know, I was in a trip to Kilimanjaro and I stayed for like three days extra Are you paid 1000s of dollars for flights. 1000s of dollars for these tracks like this was just

13: 06

13: as a guest even had I stayed on for two or three days extra I could have gone to Zanzibar. He's amazing, beautiful Island of Tanzania.

13: 16

13: But at the time, I was like, Oh, I can't spend even a couple of $100 Extra. I've already gone away for 10 days, and I need to come back and work. And now it's what 14 years later, and I still haven't been to Zanzibar. I missed that opportunity. You know, the other times I do the cycle, Cambodia and Vietnam and I was away 10 days. It's like I could have just said can I stay another two days, which they would always allow. And I did it in Vietnam was fantastic. Because I'm on I'm working on the tour manager, I'm taking care of her and I'm responsible for everyone. And then I just get back on the plane afterwards and come straight back home. And yes, we've had an incredible experience. I've been in the environment. But I also need time to download and process. And I could have had my pleasure. I also again, I work from my laptop, I could have taken my laptop with me and done a couple of extra days, which is what I do now. Had a couple extra days working a few hours a day, being in the pool or being in a hotel or being in a vibrant city. And soaking that up for another few days. Like the flight two days later, doesn't cost any more. Yes, we're gonna pay for hotel for a couple of days. It's not that much. Staying in Asia especially tends to be cheaper than staying in Australia. So I'm just trying to tell you there's other ways to make this worked for you. The other thing I'm a huge fan of is like long weekends you know, but this is really about business leisure is really about what you've already got a business activity you're doing adding in some leisure. And when I talked to a friend the other day and I said it was the ultimate pleasure last year we went a friend and client and colleague and everything my business bestie Jade one. We went on a trip down to Melbourne.

14: 55

14: So we went for a photoshoot. We had the Photoshop team we had about five people booked in, but we went a few

15: 00

15: Two days early, we stayed with my friend, we had a lovely dinner.

15: 05

15: Then we spent a day out in Melbourne.

15: 08

15: You know, we're sort of working, but also not like we're having fun. But we were gathering content. We're taking photos, I'm taking videos, talking about ideas. But ultimately, we were having fun, but what are, we are business friends. So we're always going to talk about business. But we were enjoying ourselves, we went into a store and try on clothes, we had a long lunch, like, we combined it. Then the next day, we did the photoshoot. So that's the business bit. That's the work bit. And then that night, we organized networking drinks. So again, the business activity but pretty leisurely as well. And then went out for dinner with a couple of friends afterwards, it was just such a beautiful fusion of business and leisure. We did our work, we were there for main purpose, but we stayed longer instead of because sometimes we've done it where we flown in in the morning, or would have had to fly in was meant to fly in or morning in the canceled so she drove overnight to make sure because she was there on time, and then had to leave the next day. So she drove back to Canberra, like nine hours each way. Otherwise, you're sometimes flying in the morning flying that evening. I'm sure you can make arrangements with your clients, with your family with your friends, get some support, so that you can have a little bit extra time for you. That little bit of top up of tank that just little little bit one night in hotel, or staying with a friend, if it is with financial is an issue making that you're already going all the way why not do something nice. While you're there, I'm talking about I'm not telling you to take a week, or 10 days or three weeks, I'm saying one extra night, half a day, a morning, tonight's not a huge amount, but that little a little bit of loveliness, that top up at the tank will give you the energy to keep going. So that you don't have to wait until you can take a massive four week chunk of the year and have your one holiday a year. I don't subscribe to it. And I don't think you have to either.

17: 10

17: So I'm gonna be talking more and more about this. I just wanted to give you some insights into it today. I'd love to hear what you think if you think I'm absolutely mad.

17: 18

17: Or if you're already doing it. I think other people are doing this too. But you probably just don't have a term for it. How are you including bleisure in your life? How are you finding ways to mix business and leisure. And I'm not saying don't have a holiday, there are times where I'm really, really, very soon to book into going Ghana, which is a wellness retreat, it's like 40 minutes for me. And I will be switching off I will not be having a phone or a computer or anything. And I'm really looking forward to that. You know, I'm going on a cruise later this year. But I want to see how I go on that cruise. Doing some work. Like a couple hours a day, I'm gonna mostly be chilling out enjoying, but why can't I keep you know working on my business a little bit while I'm there. But I you know, if you need a holiday and you want to switch off, that's fine. You don't have to always do bleisure. And I don't recommend it. You don't have to always find a way to monetize your trips and travel, I've done that too. But if you're finding it hard to find time to have a holiday, to have a break to have a getaway, think about how you can include just one extra night or two here or there to top up your tank throughout the year.

18: 28

18: I'll leave that with you can't wait to share more. Love to hear your thoughts. Let's keep talking about later the art of blazer.

18: 38

18: Oh, before I go

18: 42

18: I would say probably but um, if you do want help with this, I offer my error power coaching. So I'm offering you know, I'm a Business Travel life coach so I can talk about the business and the travel and the life and how you can include more leisure in your life, how you can make this work for you with your specific set of circumstances. So if something you want to do more of and you feel like you can't or you're hearing me and you're saying well that's all well and good for you, Emma,

19: 10

19: it's possible for you to and you can make it work the way you want to and I'd love to support you with that as a coach. So that's my hour of power calls. You can see them on my website, Emma lovell.au forward slash work with me. Email me, Emma Lovell, Emma at Emma lovell.au find the way to contact me we'll get you sorted and we can help you to increase the pleasure in your life as well.

19: 35

19: Thank you for listening lovely one. I hope this has inspired you to dream big and start creating a life you love today. If you love what you're hearing, don't forget to follow and rate on Spotify and rate review and subscribe on iTunes. It helps other awesome people to find this podcast and get motivated and inspired as well. Want to stay connected. Come and join the live a life you love group on Facebook

20: 00

20: Connect with me on Instagram Emma lovell.au The same as my website but all the details are in the show notes lovely I'll see you next episode for more inspiration motivation and freedom seeking go out there and live a life you love