No one can ever say that having a home based business is boring! Between quieting barking dogs, refereeing your children's fights, and answering the phone and the doorbell, it can sometimes be hard to get anything done -- no matter how well you visualize, set goals, and plan your day.
And it can be equally easy to be too hard on ourselves, blaming ourselves for not being more organized, focused or motivated. But that just increases the pressure -- it doesn't solve anything! Sometimes it helps to just stop, put the “to-do” list away, and look instead at the big picture.
I find these three "mantras" help me get back in balance when I’m feeling stressed, overwhelmed or just plain tired:
1. If you aren't making mistakes, you aren't moving fast enough. I don't know if I'm typical, but I certainly know I'm not alone in wanting to always present a professional, polished image to the world. Whether it's an important email message, a change to my website, or a new article, I want it to be perfect. It's often hard to stop tweaking and improving, and just let go. And yet that's exactly what will help me succeed faster.
Everyone makes mistakes -- your clients and colleagues included -- and they are likely to be much more forgiving of your mistakes than you will. Set a time limit, and when that time is up, stop tweaking and move on!
2. It doesn't *have* to be done today. Many of my deadlines are self-imposed -- and most of the time, no one else cares! So if you don't get your newsletter out today or even this week -- trust me, your equally-busy subscribers may not even notice if it's late.
A stressed mind doesn't function as clearly as a relaxed one -- taking off the pressure by letting a milestone slip a few days can result in a better end product. And it may be easier and take less time to complete, too.
3. It will get done when it is supposed to get done. It's amazing how when I finally get around to doing a task or project I've procrastinated about for a while, something else aligns that makes the work easier and sometimes gives a better result than if I'd done it earlier. Or an opportunity arises to get someone else to do it, or even just drop it altogether in favor of a different project that's more exciting, fun and profitable.
I find this mantra to be especially helpful when I've delegated a task and it doesn't get done on time (aka on my schedule). I make that schedule myself -- and I have the power to change the schedule. A stressed VA doesn't work any better than a stressed "you". So relax, let her know it's ok, and both of you will feel more energized as a result.
A caveat: if you have a client project due tomorrow, these mantras won’t be of much help – your client expects, and you should deliver, a high-quality, on-time product. But if you can apply them consistently from the beginning, you’ll find it easier to get “in the flow”, where the work gets done almost effortlessly and before you know it, you are done – early!
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