I had a super enjoyable Saturday recently. It was one of those really great days that ended with me feeling incredibly relaxed, happy and fulfilled.
Take a moment and try and guess what I did.
Any ideas?
Time with my kids/husband? Friends? A trip to a beautiful beach (or other stunning location)?
I’m going to go out on a limb and bet that your guesses did NOT include me reconciling hundreds of transactions in my bookkeeping software and getting through an enormous stack of un-filed paperwork.
And yet – that is exactly how I spent my day.
But wait!
Before you stop reading and add me to a list of smug, self righteous, extremely annoying people who just love listing all of the productive things they get done while the rest of us procrastinate… please let me share that these were two of the VERY last things I wanted to do. I’d actually been avoiding these tasks for more than a few months, which is possibly (read definitely) why the paper pile was quite so large and why my QuickBooks account stopped telling me exactly how many transactions had not been reconciled. (This part of the program stops at 3 digits and just provides an ominous “+999 to review” next to your neglected account.)
So how then did a day spent reconciling financial transactions and sorting paperwork end up being a relaxing and fulfilling experience? And if I was so against doing this, how did I manage to find the energy to tackle it head on?
After months of telling myself how terrible of an example I was being by procrastinating and how I lacked discipline (which only served to demotivate me even more), I remembered that there was an alternative way to approach issues: We can choose to actively and purposefully reframe any necessary activities in our lives that we have painted as drudgery.
A large part of the problem lies in the fact that we keep focusing on WHAT we need to do, rather than HOW we’re going to do it. Once we’ve started focusing on the amount of work and the perceived difficulty, we become overwhelmed, stressed and avoidant. Especially as creative artists, we can struggle to commit to tasks that feel completely disconnected from the things we love to do. That’s why, particularly when it comes to our financial work, it’s critical that we “Find Fun and Freedom” and try not to “Fear and Flee!”
Here are 4 ideas that can help turn your fatigue into focus:
- CONNECT with people who can support you in getting the job done. I reached out to a colleague who is a QuickBooks expert to help get me back on track. She gave me some great tips and tricks to speed up my reconciling process. She also created small projects to break up a job that was starting to feel insurmountable; and scheduled a follow up meeting to keep me accountable to my assignments. Consider reaching out to friends who might need/want to work on similar projects and schedule an afternoon/day to work together. Having a partner/companionship creates the motivating energy that results in significant progress.
- COMBINE the work with something else that you enjoy doing. Most of the bookkeeping and filing work I needed to do was time consuming but relatively mindless. I reconciled hundreds of transactions while listening to a James Patterson thriller (don’t judge me) on Audible. Then I sorted the filing while sitting on a pillow on the floor, catching up on The Crown on Netflix. I absolutely love to read novels and watch dramatic shows on television. But these are things I often struggle to find time to do. It was an enormous treat to “have no choice” but to indulge in some great story time – while also getting my financial house in order.
- COMPETE with yourself and/or someone else. Some of us respond to the fun that comes with good, old fashioned competition. Give yourself a time limit… can I get these papers filed before my timer rings in 45 minutes? Ready? Go! Or have a game with a friend facing a similar challenge… The last one to produce an updated Profit & Loss has to cook the other one dinner.
- CHANGE your location. Where is the rule that says your money management has to happen sitting at a desk, in a quiet room? That’s only true if it’s where you actually LIKE doing your work. I’m a sit up in bed, with music (or a really gripping novel) playing beside me kind of person. I have my snacks, maybe a cup of tea or a glass of wine, and a great scented candle burning. In this time of laptop computers, tablets, and wifi – there are almost no limits to where you can get stuff done. What’s a location that you enjoy? Why not take your work there?
What are the tasks (financial or otherwise) that you dread and therefore avoid doing at all costs even though not doing them weighs heavily in your mind and leads to built up anxiety and stress? How then can we take those very tasks and creatively choose how they align with things we enjoy?
When we remember that we are “wired for joy” and bring lightheartedness to all of our work, we do a better job. We have more energy, we complete tasks faster and with greater efficiency.
And when we do our lives that way – there is genuine joy on the journey.
