One of the odd things about running your own small business is that you have very little time to plan. It is an irony that in an offering that is based upon helping other businesses to plan and strategize better it is something that I find hard to make time for. This, I feel is a well known problem. Three phrases spring to mind, physician heal thyself, cobblers shoes and mechanics car. All suggest that we are too busy looking after the needs of our customers to concentrate on our own issues.
The problem is of course down to finances. Who will turn down the chance to earn some money in order to sort out their to do list? If you are busy then the squeeze is even greater. I have been finding it particularly difficult this year to find the time. In a way, this is a good sign, yet I must admit that it is getting me down. There is a cloud hanging over me and some of this is down to the need to sort myself out.
Christmas is both a curse and a blessing. It is a curse because, for some unfathomable reason, everyone acts as if the world is going to end and all outstanding work needs to be completed. January comes around soon enough however and life starts up again. It is a blessing in that it is one of the few times in which you can come up for breath. Customers have wound down and don’t want to talk to you about their issues.
December and August are the only opportunities that I can use to catch up, not that I am that far behind but I have a nagging sense that I have forgotten something, am not focused on the right things or am spreading myself too thinly.
In this festive time of year then, I am going to treat my brain to a holiday. I’m going to give it time to sort itself out and plan for, what is hopefully a busy and fruitful year next year.
Stress free season’s greetings everyone.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 