Lighten Your Load

“It’s difficult to clearly see what needs to be done when your environment is burdened with half-completed projects, unfinished to-do lists, old files, clothes that don’t fit, and equipment that no longer works or serves any purpose.”  Debbie Ford – excerpt from The Best Year of Your Life

I am coming through perhaps the busiest and “mentally heaviest” season of my life. I didn’t handle it especially well. Ok, I completely dropped the ball on “life management 101.” I didn’t stick to my solid, I-feel-great workout and healthy eating plan. I didn’t stick to my systems to touch once, clean out my email daily, and take time to stop and clear my thoughts. I didn’t rest enough, and I did run in chase-my-tail, fight or flight mode. I didn’t stick to my money goals. “No time to make my lunch; I’ll just buy it.” Yuck. It was awful and I don’t want to go there ever again.

I saw this “lighten your load” quote and felt that she was talking to me. It is mentally heavy to have a bunch of things partially done; stacks of papers, magazines, bills calling out to us. “Mental residue” is how Brian Johnson describes it from some author that he was quoting. Every glance at the stack is a taunt, a failure, and an energy drain, constantly weighing us down.

This also applies to your money. Do you have accounts scattered here and there? Do you have small balances on credit here and there? Do you have bills coming in through paper, email, or hanging from your front door?

We all need a solid, one system way to manage our work, our lives, and our money. Here are a few questions to get us all (4 fingers pointed at me!) moving in the right direction:

• Where can we “lighten the load” and create a good system for staying on top of our money, our bills and our accounts?
• Can we focus on the smallest dollar value credit card and just knock out that balance while making sure that we don’t add to it?
• Can we give up the multiple store brand credit cards in favor of one all-purpose (high reward) credit card as one way of lightening the load?
• Can we consolidate accounts, synchronize bill due dates, automate payments?
• Can we automate savings so that it “just happens” and we don’t have to think about it?
• Can we find a good tracking software (Quicken, mint.com, etc.) so that everything shows up in one place?
• Can we list out every bill that we have monthly, quarterly, annually and list out how it comes to us, when it is due and the average amount payable?
• Can we get in place a system that we document and follow and schedule so that your money management is not a bunch of “half-completed projects, unfinished to-do lists, old files” and haphazardness?
• Can we create and follow a system to clear out old documents, scan and shred so that everything we need is at our fingertips?

I am trying to view my recent “quarter of chaos” as a chance to see how bad the “don’t” picture is and purposefully create a “do” picture that keeps me out of such a chaotic situation in the future. I am trying to use this experience to batten down the hatches, refocus on the systems that work, rework those that don’t, and clear out the partially completed “stuff” that is stressing me out. I am trying to reflect on what I learned by being in over-drive for the last several months so that I cling harder to structure and systems, say “no” and “good enough” a bit more, and insist on time to rejuvenate and regroup. I am trying to dig in, finish things, clean up the mess, put away, throw away, and eliminate one source of mental fatigue at a time.

Where can you lighten the financial load so that you are not feeling stressed and chaotic? Pick one little thing and do it today. You will feel so much more in control, powerful, and competent! Getting better every day….

To your financial success (and “lightness!”) ~ Tana