Last week, when the entire extended Northrup family was circled up in the cozy, fairy tale-like ski town in Western NY where my maternal line has been based for over 100 years, I had a quick conversation with one of my cousins:

“We’re cancelling everything this week. I don’t know why I thought I could toggle in and out of work this week,” I said.

“That’s pretty great that you’re able to do that. Just cancel it all,” he replied.

He was right, and I needed to be reminded of what a blessing it is to have the power to do nearly exactly what I want with my time.

Cancelling everything but one call so we could honor my late uncle’s life didn’t cause us to lose money or momentum.

The reason why is because we’ve had a subtle, yet seismic operating system running behind the scenes of our company since 2017. And when it comes to making more while doing less, it changes everything.

What is this operating system?

It’s our body-based planning and project management system – so baked into our flow, I often forget to name it.

And using this system is our number one strategy for making more while doing less.

If you’re wondering whether this model actually works in real time:

This year was not only our highest revenue year, it was our highest profit year, as well. The former is great, but the latter is what I shake my pom poms for because wealth (and freedom) are created from what you keep, not just what you make.

We’re also about to take nearly two entire weeks off as a company, that’s above and beyond the Paid Time Off our team receives.

(Heads up: I’m taking two weeks off from publishing Notes of Plenty and new Plenty episodes. We’ve got some fun playlists and roundups for you over the holidays, but the following Notes of Plenty and new Plenty episode will both be out the first full week of January.)

Also: this year we’ve only done one major launch – and it was still our most profitable year to date.

Our business is simple, spacious, and elegant.

And here’s the framework that makes this kind of relaxed business possible:

We challenge the status quo.

One of our company values is to question the way things are and ask if they really have to be that way. When it comes to making more money while having a spacious schedule, breaking out of the assumption that more money = more effort is the first step. And surrounding yourself with examples of people whose income is not tied to the number of hours they work.

We choose our frequency more than we chase goals.

We know that who we’re being is far more important than what we’re doing. Our alignment, our integrity, and how we’re doing the work (meaning how the process feels) creates our magnetism. We don’t limit ourselves (or the Universe) with results-oriented goals that are somewhat arbitrary and based on the illusion that “there’s any there there,” and instead we cultivate feeling as aligned as possible along the way.

We let nature and our bodies guide our workflow.

Body first, business second. That’s our company motto. We don’t expect ourselves or the company to be in a season of harvest all year long. We build in seasons of rest, seasons of planting, seasons of reaping, and seasons of winding down. Mother Nature is responsible for the natural world, the most abundant system we know of. So we follow her cues for regenerative abundance.

We know that 80% of our results will come from 20% of our actions, and we’re devoted to the 20%.

We focus on what we know moves the needle. We double down on it. We refine it. When we feel we’re getting lost chasing shiny objects, we come back to the 20% that brings us 80% of the results. We track this in our revenue, in our offers, and in our customers.

We let things go.

We let other people do things when they’re not in our highest and best (not just Mike and me, but everyone else on the team, too). We play like a team because we are. If someone needs support, we encourage them to ask. We encourage everyone to delegate. The business doesn’t thrive unless everyone is lit up by what they’re doing and working ever closer to their Zone of Genius.

We let the systems hold us.

When you don’t have systems and structures in place, you have to depend on your brain to hold everything. It’s stressful and massively limits your capacity. When you have systems and structure, though, you get to flow and be free.

I teach you how to implement all of these things (and more strategies to do less and make more) inside Heal the Way You Work and it’s 50% off right now.

Which one of these relaxed business principles do you most need to focus on right now? Reply back and let us know! Your response helps us know what to make more of in the future.

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