Lots of you look to self-help materials for guidance and growth. We benefit from other people’s knowledge and expertise, the trials and tribulations that they’ve already worked through, the systems and processes developed over time, the staffing considerations, the software and hardware they’ve already tested, the marketing that has worked for them, and the techniques they use the solutions they recommend.
The programs available to you are tremendously varied, covering topics from mindset to balancing your budget to doing hot yoga and fixing your car. They’re also delivered in a myriad of ways from hardcover books to DVDs and videos and online training in order to make it easy for you.
The reasons for the huge self-help industry include the endless search for the quick fix to a desire to do it yourself to a real thirst for knowledge. The common thread through many programs is the requirement that you do the work on your own. The question then becomes, how to you add yet another task to your already full plate?
The best of intentions surround your desire to do the work, but how many of you actually crack open the self-help materials, much less get through the programs, much less put the suggestions into action. The percentage is quite small.
If you’re reading this post, you’re likely a right-brain businessperson. You’re a creative and you’re in service to others. It also probably means your plate is overfull. You have good intentions to help everyone AND get some self-help squeezed in between serving others. Yet, you end up feeling overextended and overwhelmed. Your heart is in the right place, but your reality and your 24 hours are not synching up.
In an earlier post, I wrote about owning your time. So hold off adding anything else to your plate. Instead, this holiday season I’d like to recommend not self-help, but “elf” help.
Turn to the elves around you and ask for help getting all the seasonal stuff done. And I don’t mean the imaginary elves, I mean your friends, family, colleagues, contractors. From cleaning your house to cooking your meals to shopping and decorating, there are people who can help you just as you help others all year long.
You need to recharge yourself in order to create and to serve. You need to take care of yourself before taking care of everybody else. Remember the flight attendants tell you to put on YOUR oxygen mask FIRST. So offload some of those tasks and put yourself first for a change.
If you choose to do the same way you’ve always done it you could easily end up starting the new year exhausted and mentally shut down. Remember that you have the power of choice. You could choose to do everything yourself, and, ultimately pay the consequences. Instead, I seriously recommend that you choose to ask for elf help and delegate a number of tasks in front of you. That way you have time to enjoy the season, and get that recharge you desperately need.
Cass Mullane is an artist with an MBA. Cass Mullane’s calm, comfortable approach consistently yields positive results for clients. Her business and personal coaching practice, www.ProsperCreatively.com, specializes in delivering solid left brain business skills to right brainers and creatives in a fun, visual way. She’s a best selling author, a contemporary abstract artist and creator of the Cool Stuff Jar™ Retreats.You can also visit Cass on Facebook!