It started with the terrible cold I battled for 6 or 7 weeks last fall. Then two good news stories – new work and Christmas, scooped up all my time and focus and left my brain swirling with ideas. My brain doesn’t work well that way. I see possibilities and I want to do all of them. I want to feed people, save animals, write a blog, build my business(es!), increase my Facebook posts, help friends, be with family. There are all good things! How do you choose the best? Juggling all this left me with no activity to collect my thoughts into a legible on-topic post.
Miriam Webster tells me to be deliquent is, “offending by neglect or violation of duty or of law.” I’m pretty sure I didn’t offend anyone, and I only neglected myself. I didn’t start the year with ‘this year I will…’ because New Year’s resolutions rarely stick past February. Rather, my goal is to be improving all the time. Last fall I fell back a few steps back in areas that mean a lot to me, like eating better, and living more sustainably. That upsets me more than not hitting business goals, or losing my mind with ideas and not acting on any.
So what did my deliquency accomplish? I heard a great talk a few weeks back and the fellow who was speaking suggested in every disappointment or failure to think of these things:
- What good can I find in this moment right now?
- What have I learned?
- What can I do to improve?
In my delinquency I can find several good things. I got to snuggle lots with my kids and puppies. I started a new business that has already expanded. I’ve learned if I don’t keep moving neither does my business. I also learned I can easily spread myself way too thin and be lured by shiny new things. The easiest way for me to overcome this deliquency in anything is to make a schedule and stick to it. This is where all the moving parts get tricky.
I am motivated by variety. But too much equals overload. I re-aligned with a Business Coach to help focus on the right things. It’s already been amazing and I’m only a few sessions in. 2018 is going to be amazing because I can, and will, find good in every moment. I can learn, and, believe me, I am always improving.
My deliquency also found me asking myself why I write this blog? And asking why I’m not writing more client newsletters? How important is sleep? And other life-altering questions that probably have you on the edge of your seat. The truth in all that is, my blog is an extension of me. It’s not ‘salesy’, or forced, and I realized my newsletter has been. So, change is coming there to make it more fun and informative. And sleep, well I would say it’s over-rated, but research has told me it’s pretty important. So I may be a little more deliquent in the future because I’ll be resting my eyes…