We all have places where we shine in our home business, and areas where we would just rather not focus. For some of us, we avoid keeping care of our finances and paying the bills, for others, it might be marketing that sends us running to the nearest distraction. With so much to do in the average home based business, we can hide out and avoid some of the tasks we don’t want to face for a good while. Eventually, however, those neglected areas will need our attention.
The big question to ask yourself is “Why?” Why are you avoiding the areas you are avoiding? And, I’m not talking about the quick answer response, it may be necessary to really dig down and figure out what is underneath that quick response. What is really going on? For example, I tend to avoid queries in my home business. I tell myself it is because there is too much other work to focus on and deadlines to meet—but that is not the REAL reason, the real reason is that sending out queries feels like a blind date. I worry about the rejection, appearing stupid, looking like I don’t have a grasp on what a publisher is looking for, and spending a bunch of time trying to appear brilliant and creative and having it end up in someone’s slush pile or e-mail garbage. I don’t want to feel “un-chosen.”
Getting to those deep-down, emotional reasons for avoidance is the first major step in figuring out what to do. I wish I could say that just facing those demons will be all it takes to make you want to jump in and do that avoided task, but I haven’t found that to be the case. What I have found is that instead of beating myself up or berating myself or using some sort of self-shaming (which never works for me), it does help for me to admit things to myself and truly feel some understanding and self-compassion. It seems that, for me, that compassion gives me the strength to go in and gives those areas of my business that I tend to put off—a little attention.
Also: When You Get Overwhelmed, It Might Be Time to Take a Break