December 12, 2018
There’s a room in my house we call the office. Really it’s an unused bedroom with a desk. In theory, I should be working out of that room but I just can’t. There are unfiled papers, overstuffed bookshelves and general crap everywhere. On top of that, the closet is stuffed with unpacked boxes from when we moved in two and a half years ago. Clearly, I need nothing that’s in there.
However a few months ago we did need to find something in that closet, and that’s when the room got untenable. See we had to unstack the boxes and pull a bunch of junk out in order to find what we were looking for and now it’s just all over the floor. I can’t even stand to walk by the room so the door has been shut for a long time now.
Why do I tell you this? Knowing that my office is in complete disarray keeps me from working. It keeps my mind busy with all the stories about how I’m such a slob and I’ll never get my stuff together. It keeps me distracted from doing the things I need to be doing. And I bet the same thing has happened to you.
Could it be that having the books for your business out of order is distracting you from actually working on your business? Keeping your books in order is an act of self-care. Here’s why.
Do you have any idea how much more mental space I would have to do all the things that need to be done if my office was organized? I can’t even imagine the potential. Getting your books in order frees your mind. No more worrying about how it's going to get done, when it’s going to get done, or if your tax accountant is going to yell at you. (P.S. if you really think your tax accountant will yell at you please get a new one, no one needs that). Keeping your books in order protects your mind, your mental energy, and your mental freedom. Its an act of self-care.
I can’t wait for the weekend that I finally sit down and clean out my office. To make my list of activities to finish and check them off one by one. It’s going to be great. And you can feel that way too. I know that catching up on your books has been the eternally shuffled to the bottom of your to-do list. And that can be so frustrating. If you could just get it off your list!
The good news is that you can! It doesn’t even have to be you who does it. As much as the world tries to pretend that we can do it all, in reality, we just can’t. There is no badge for the entrepreneur who does everything themselves. If there was it would be shaped like a stressed out shell of a person. And they would probably be crying. Just saying. Outsource the tasks you hate, the ones that you secretly worry you suck at and focus on the ones that only you can do, the ones that move your business forward. The ultimate self-care is not trying to do it all
We all know that tracking data in other areas is a form of self-care. Keeping up with your steps, watching your weight, counting those delicious, fattening carbs, sticking to your personal budget. Knowing how you’re doing in those areas is a form of self-care. You have to know how you’re doing, what’s working, where you’re growing. Living in confusion and uncertainty is the opposite of self-care.
Take care of your books (whether you do it yourself or pass it on to someone who loves it) it’s really a form of taking care of yourself.
What other non-conventional ways do you take care of yourself? Tell me here, I’d love to know!
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“I’m so sorry my books are in this state”
“This must be the worst you’ve ever seen”
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