We all have them. They do test us all from time to time. But it’s all in how we view them that matters. Sitting here writing this I am feeling immense frustration. I’m three days behind in a task. I have really, really unstable satellite internet. And on a day of Telstra giving us free data in compensation for recent network outages, I find myself unable to access 3G connection from home so unable to access the free data (unless I drive a significant distance away). Challenging, right? Put on top of that an 11 week old puppy trying to chew me out of house and home, a screaming baby, a booked out Bed and Breakfast and managing a 10 year old Autistic child and I have to be honest – today I feel at breaking point. And we’ve all had these days, haven’t we? It’s called being human. So how do we push through?
The first thing I do when I’m feeling like is to shift gears and do something else. So I’m writing here. I need to write some content for a course I’m currently presenting and I can’t access the internet in order to gather some key data. I can’t do anything about it – it’s outside of my control right now – so I’ve chosen to do something else for a while. Something I enjoy – writing.
Secondly, always believe that there are solutions to problems. Now I live two hours north east of Melbourne. Some might say that’s a long way away, others might say it’s not. We are an 8 minute drive to the nearest town (10km away). We rely on satellite internet as Telstra deems us to be outside of their reach. We do have a strong mobile signal in our back paddock high up on the hill and so we have installed multiple repeaters around the property to repeat the signal. Something none of our neighbours have thought to do. But we saw a solution and went about making it happen. Now I’m not suggesting that the signal is reliable, but it’s better than nothing. I do admit to having regular temper tantrums about the – let’s face – shoddy internet but because it is controlled by NBN which is Government, there’s absolutely nothing that can be done about it. There isn’t a big enough lobby group in my area of 200 residents to install the infrastructure required to deliver stable internet, so we basically just have to put up with what’s available. So we spend a large amount of our time working from either the local library or café or car. It’s the trade off for living where we choose to live. It’s okay to be angry about things, but not for extended periods of time. That’s not healthy nor productive.
Seek help. It is very rare that we can achieve everything that we want to achieve all by ourselves. And I know that many of us that are SOHO business owners are a little control freaks, aren’t we? We know precisely how we like for things to be and the only person that can deliver is me, right? I felt the same way years ago. But leveraging your time is probably one of the biggest epiphanies I have ever felt. I’ve managed to outsource our home cleaning and Bed and Breakfast cleaning. I have outsourced the SEO management of my sites. I have outsourced my social media management. I have outsourced the caring of my children. I have outsourced the gardening and maintenance of our property. I have outsourced the management of my events. And I even get my partner to manage all of my IT. Can you imagine how much time that creates for me? Imagine if I tried doing all of this myself??? I would never have any time for the actual work that creates clients for me. Learning is truly awesome and I highly recommend it, but constantly learning new stuff and trying to implement it is like a dog chasing its tail. You’re not making ground. So always investigate if something can be done by someone else – no matter how small. Try fiverr.com, upwork.com and airtasker.com You’d be surprised what other people can do for you and how little they charge. It’s insane!
If you’re on a deadline that only you can do, it can’t be outsourced and you need to find a solution fast, break down the task into bite sized milestones. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by a task when you have endless distractions, the task looks massive, you don’t have the time to explain it to someone else and the only solution is to just keep going until the task is done. Write down all of the components and put a time frame on each. It will feel so satisfying crossing off each task as you complete it and it won’t feel anywhere near as overwhelming and you’ll find a structured strategy to repeat if this situation every comes up again (which it probably will). It works wonderfully well.
So these are my hints and tips on how to overcome pretty much any obstacle and triumph. At the end of the day, always look at your tasks as not being the end of the world if they are not done precisely the way you would like them to be done and not completed right on the deadline. Who will die as a result? Will world peace be achieved if it is? And are you curing world hunger? I’m guessing not, so stop stressing. It’s probably not a first world problem, so stop treating it like it is. If you can extend a deadline, then do that. There are always options – you just need to believe they exist and see them.
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