A Clear Mind Is a Clear ... ?

If you’re able to finish that sentence then we beg you to share the answer with us!

Does anyone truly have a clear mind? Our initial intent with this post was to be about how to keep your mind clear: whether this was clear of distractions, clear of unnecessary tasks – we aren’t quite sure. What we have come to decide is that it’s not important that your mind be clear, but rather organized.

As an entrepreneur, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, having a clear mind is essentially impossible and isn’t something that we can control. There is no sense worrying and agonizing about #AllTheThings that should be done as that list is endless.

What we can control is how to keep these roles organized.

Being an entrepreneur, especially as a Virtual Assistant, organization is the foundation of our business. We help other business owners organize and run their businesses so that they can thrive and do what they love to do (which we believe most business owners would agree, is not running your own business!). We implement systems and processes so that we can maximize our efficiency and produce results. Using apps, such as Asana, helps us do this as we can organize projects by client and have our entire team on the same page – always.

The personal relationships and roles that we associate with require effort. This needs to be a conscious effort and keeping on top of your relationships requires work. Organization is not always about lists and apps and reminders. It is about ensuring you continue to develop and build these relationships and not take them for granted. It is so easy to be hyper-focused on business and one or two other roles, but it can be a juggling act to keep up with them all.

We will be the first to admit that, at times, we have taken some of these relationships for granted. It is easy to assume that your friends and family will just always be there when you need them and are available on your schedule. This pandemic has taught us that never have we ever needed these relationships – these bonds – more. We starve for human connection and continue to have to grow our friendships virtually. We’re fortunate enough to have all this technology at our fingertips but it still doesn’t replace actual human connection.

Being organized when it comes to your family and friends is remembering to keep in touch and have conversations that expand further than “what did you do today?” (since the answer is likely yard work, chores, or for major excitement – going to the grocery/liquor store). Maybe a family member is having some health issues; making that conscious effort to ask questions and keep informed IS being organized. It is remembering to make birthdays or special occasions a little extra special or sending a friend a text letting them know that you’re thinking of them. Better yet, send them a virtual gift card to go grab a coffee/treat. It’s being organized enough in your head to have the capacity to think of those tiny gestures (and remember to follow through on them!).

From the outside perspective, there are some people that just always appear to have their shit together. You know exactly who we’re talking about. They’re the ones that on your less-than-ideal days leave you standing staring at them wishing you could be as organized as they are – essentially “have your life together”. But we’re all human – we all have days where things don’t go right regardless of how organized we are. And that’s just how it is, and that’s okay. We also have days when we’re the person other’s wish they were. We can’t be “on” all of the time… can we? Because that just sounds exhausting.

With that said, every once in a while we like to set aside some time for ourselves and take a look at our roles and see how we’re doing:

Is enough focus being placed on our business? Are our clients happy?

Are we happy with our relationships? Are we unhappy with any?
- This is generally where if we’re unhappy with any, some extra attention gets put in to solidify that relationship. Sometimes even a 5-minute phone call can do wonders, just to check-in on the other person.

We’re reminded of the story “Just a Little Love” by Mercer Meyer (if you have kids or have been around them, you’ve likely read it once or a thousand times) where anytime something wasn’t going right, someone was unhappy, or someone was sick, they just “needed a little love” to feel better. That thought and attention was needed to help make that person feel better. We believe that rings true for our roles and relationships even as adults: sometimes thought, attention, and love needs to be directed and redirected as required to keep up relationships. There are times when, as entrepreneurs, we work tirelessly to build and grow our business and we may despise it from time to time because of that, but we continue on. Because after some thought and attention (and just a little love!) we remember how amazing it is that we’ve built our own business or product and how proud we are that we can call ourselves entrepreneurs.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels