You’re Allowed to Build Your Business Around Your Capacity - Not Your Calendar

I’m going to be honest and start with a truth - last year for me was hard. I had a death in the family, executorship as a result, the sale of the house, and the emotional fall out from losing the much loved family member - aside from all the usual ‘life stuff’ that happens.

Going through all that, I was pushing away the idea of having clients - all I kept hearing myself saying was “I don’t have the capacity”.

The thing is, it took me a long time to get out of survival mode, and I was very grateful to have a community around me that supported me through it.

In conversation, as I came out the other side, I had a ‘download’ and came to the understanding that I was grouping all my ‘capacities’ together.

I realised that most of the time I wasn’t saying ‘I don’t have the time’, but ‘I don’t have the capacity’ - I was in emotional burnout and my emotional capacity was gone - I couldn’t take on any more. BUT I did have space for other things instead - and that’s when things shifted and started opening up for me.

The usual advice around productivity and planning doesn’t go deep enough - especially for those of us building heart-led businesses.

You’re told to plan better, optimise your day, get more done in less time.
But that only works if time is the only thing you’re managing.

And it’s not.

You’re managing your energy, your emotions, your focus, your health, your ability to make decisions, challenges around being visible, holding space for people - and that capacity changes from one day to the next.

And none of that even touches the mental load of managing your home, working out what’s for dinner, or dealing with life as it inevitably happens!

Because it’s hard to stick to a plan that forgets you’re a human being with a whole life outside your to-do list.

8 Types of Capacity (And Why Time is Just One of Them)

We talk about capacity like it’s a single thing - as if being “at capacity” always means the same kind of full. But in reality, there are different kinds of capacity, and sometimes one gets maxed out while others still have room.

Understanding what kind of capacity you’re actually short on (and what kind you still have) can be the key to moving forward gently - instead of pushing through and burning out.

Here are a few to start noticing in your own day-to-day:

1. Emotional Capacity

Your ability to feel, process, and hold space - for yourself and others. When this is low, you might feel irritable, disconnected, or sensitive to even small demands. Creativity and clarity often take a hit here too.

2. Mental Capacity

This is about focus, clarity, and decision-making. You might technically have time, but if your brain feels foggy or scattered, that time isn’t usable in a meaningful way.

3. Physical Capacity

Energy levels, health, and bodily stamina. You can be emotionally motivated and mentally sharp but still feel physically unable to push through. And you shouldn't have to.

4. Time Capacity

Yes, it matters. But it’s a surface-level metric. Time alone doesn’t account for the quality of your energy or your readiness to act. But there will be times when you literally won’t be able to (or want) fit any more into a day.

5. Financial Capacity

Your ability to receive, hold, or invest money. We often think of financial capacity as "not having enough money" - but what if we flipped that?

What if you saw capacity as the space to receive more - not just the limit of what you can spend?

You might not feel ready to invest heavily, and that’s valid. But you may have more space than you realise to grow, to receive, and to expand financially - especially when it feels safe to do so.

6. Social Capacity

How much interaction you can handle - and more importantly, who you're interacting with. The right people can lift you. The wrong ones? Draining. Ambiverts, I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.

7. Organisational Capacity

Your brain's ability to structure, sort, and manage tasks. If this is low, you might find yourself drawn to simple admin or low-effort actions, even if they’re not urgent. That’s okay.

8. Energetic Capacity

Everything looks fine. You’re not exhausted, you’re not overwhelmed... and yet something feels off. The connection is missing. It’s subtle, but important. This is the undercurrent that makes everything else feel doable or disconnected.

Planning With What You Do Have

When I realised that my capacity wasn't just my emotional capacity for personal burdens - which had nothing to do with time - it opened me up to a completely different way of seeing what was possible. I suddenly felt less trapped, less boxed in by the idea that I had to wait until everything was perfect before I could move.

I realised I did have the capacity to work with clients - because I wasn't holding their emotional burden. I had the space to support others even while I was processing my own stuff, and that reminder helped me reframe what support actually looks like.

So I stopped planning my days around what I should be doing and started asking myself what I could do.

Giving myself permission to make that distinction took so much pressure off.

It let me use the energy I had without guilt about the energy I didn’t. And because I wasn’t pushing against myself, I actually moved faster and felt better doing it.

Ready for support that meets you where you are?

If you’re realising that your lack of progress isn’t about discipline or time - it’s about working in a way that fits your actual capacity - then the Aligned Action Accelerator was made for you.

It’s a 4-hour deep dive to help you untangle what’s holding you back, get clear on your next steps, and design a plan that’s shaped around you - your energy, your goals, and the business you actually want to build.

Learn more about the Aligned Action Accelerator >>