Yesterday was my last day of vacation, and I had a plan.

I was going to use the day to write this newsletter.

Maybe draft a couple emails about my upcoming AI for Preneurs workshop.

That’s it. Easy, productive, 5 hours of focused work.

Instead…

I slept in.
Walked the dogs.
Played Connections and kicked ass at Strands on the NYT app.
Fell down a rabbit hole with a new AI tool.
Helped a client troubleshoot a tech issue.
Walked the dogs (again).
​Went to the gym.
Watched a rerun of Bones.
​Cleaned up my inbox.
Wrote a few social posts.
Worked on planning Caleb’s 50th.
Scrolled YouTube for “just a minute.”

Now it’s 12:19 a.m. and here I am, finally writing this email.

Even though my “plan” was simple, my day was full.

Not just with all the random stuff I ended up doing, but with all the invisible stuff that doesn’t make it onto a to-do list.

That’s the real strain of running a business, not just delivering on your offers, or managing your team, or showing up for clients. It’s the mental load that hums under all of it.

The constant fielding of questions.
The quiet hand-holding when someone’s stuck.
The background worry about the next sale or the next client.
The mental clutter of “what if this launch flops?” or “should I change that offer?”
​The endless cycle of thinking, planning, fixing, optimizing, doubting.

And none of it shows up on your Asana board.

It’s the invisible labor of being a business owner, the stuff that doesn’t feel like work, but is work.

I’ve been experimenting lately with how to handle it better.

I'm working on capturing the work in ClickUp as much as possible, including having "office hours" for answering questions, and having dedicated time for thinking about things. A time to let those big, messy questions have the spotlight. So now, when they pop up at random or someone asks a question out of the blue, I just jot them down and promise my brain, “I’ll think about that later.”

It's not perfect but it’s something I’m testing out myself. Because shining a light on that which is invisible will make it easier to focus on intentionally and delegate when possible.

What about you, how do you deal with the invisible labour in your business? Hit reply. I’d love to hear what’s working (or not) for you.

xo,
Sandra

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