The title of this post is over one month old…I think that’s kind of funny. (But seriously, it’s my new motto, and I love it.)
It came about during the holiday season when I felt a bit like a puppet in my own show. 2011 was perhaps the craziest year of my life…wilder than awkward teenage years, more intense than 18 hour graduate school days, and more overwhelming than starting betsy & iya. We didn’t sleep this summer when we were building the new brick & mortar shop, and we didn’t sleep during the holiday season. Translation: we haven’t slept since June. Okay, okay, okay, maybe that’s a bit hyperbolic, but I think the actual amount of days we took off from work (vacusiness not included) in 2011 could be counted on my fingers and toes.
Throughout the crazy year, things really started piling up—emails, friend get-togethers, floor clothes, paper, dishes, random work tasks, resolving conflicts–you name it, chances are, it got piled up. Around October when the piles really started peaking out, I decided something had to be done about it. The thought of how to even begin diminishing the piles was so daunting that I started building piles of piles. The only thing that could be done was to stop adding to the piles. And then it just popped into my head like a giant scrolling marquee in Times Square: DO IT NOW.
So simple, yet so smart and clever. I can’t say that I haven’t slipped back into a pile here and there; but, when I see something that needs to be done and I start slipping, the phrase pops in and it’s like music to my ears. It FEELS SO GOOD. DOING IT NOW FEELS SO GOOD.
Here’s one very graspable example:
I finish eating a snack out of a cute little ramekin. I begin to set the empty ramekin on the table in front of me. ERR ERR EERR (insert: flashing red lights) ERRR ERRR ERRR (this is supposed to be the sound of a serious alarm going off). Brain pops in the phrase in modern black letters (imagine an old school optometrist’s light box, someone’s just turned it on): DO IT NOW. I swiftly turn my direction to the kitchen where I begin to set the ramekin on the counter (I mean, I have sooo many other things to do that are sooooo much more important than washing my dish immediately, right? I mean, RIIIGHT!?!). There is a sharp brain slap on my guilty hand, the phrase pops back in, and I quickly rinse the ramekin and place it in the dishwasher. done. DO IT NOW.
done.
And you know what’s so awesome about that!? It’s done! I don’t have to sift through my brain files later to make sure everything’s done. It’s gone! It’s over!
Another quick example: the inevitable email pile. UGH! This is the do-it-now rule that I’m still perfecting. Under no circumstances am I permitted to check my email unless I have the time to respond right away. Checking email involves two actions now: checking it and then doing something about it (replying, archiving, deleting, etc) immediately. I am no longer allowed to brain file emails. Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy torturing myself…constantly anxious about whether or not I’ve replied, taken care of whatever it was, etc. No MORE! I’m DOING IT NOW.
(It’s also super fun to say). (try it). (do it now).
This blog post is a part of it all—man, I’ve missed you guys!
xo (big time)~ betsy
(seriously, do it now. it’s gonna feel soooo good).
***Song of the Moment: The Color of Industry, by Radiation City***
