Monday Mindlessness

Has this ever happened to you? Over the weekend your brain is exploding in thoughts and ideas about work… This blog post subject or that one. A post idea. A good topic to run a course on. Marketing and advertising plans… I mean, you name it and this weekend, I thought about it. But now, I am sitting at my desk, ready to put these thoughts and ideas into action and I can’t even find the right words to type!

I’m working through how to solve this problem, so I’m going to attempt to blog about it as I go.

Solution 1: Write it down

Ideally when these thoughts occur, I would have written them down, with some detail - not simply, “Blog about recycling electronics & other sensitive materials.” When this thought occurred to me on Saturday, I was running late to meet a bunch of women I had never met before. I was cleaning out a credenza that I had sold on the marketplace and came across some tablets and an old laptop. While showering I thought of all of the helpful tips I could give my 5 readers on how to successfully and safely recycle those items. It was going to be a great blog. Except I just tried to write it and instead posted my reel about my Monday Mindlessness issue.

There are a lot of studies on why writing things down is important to committing it to memory, a basic google search will yield you a lot of results, but suffice it to say, I likely wouldn’t have even had to reference these notes, had I written them down. Unfortunately, in this case, I was naked, in the shower - sans pen and paper. Odd.

What is my excuse for all of my other thoughts and ideas going by the wayside on this fine Fall morning? Life. That’s my excuse. I have a 2.5 year old daughter who sucks the life out of my brain with Blippi and Peppa, asking for snacks and her constant use of the word, “No.” We ran all over Williamsburg this weekend and I was often without a pen and paper.

What’s the next best thing, that I also didn’t do, talk-to-text it or take a note in my Smart Phone. So, I’ve prepared a hand-written note-to-self, to take the notes, however it is most convenient.

Solution 2: Talk about it

I was with people when these thoughts occurred… well, I was alone in the shower, but most of the other thoughts were in a crowd of familiars. They might not have been interested in what I was saying, but as my friends, they likely would have listened anyway. And, as my friends, they are obligated to listen to me, as I am them. My friends and family are all super-smart, so they might have even had something to contribute to make the thought or idea even better. Bonus.

Solution 3: Take a break

When you are in it, mindlessness I mean, get out. Taking a break has so many benefits and works in so many situations. We are all subject to sensory overload, anxiety and overwhelm. As a small-business owner, this experience hits me in the face often, and my business won’t be successful if I just sit at my desk and struggle to make something from nothing.

I wrote a blog earlier this year titled, “One of “Those Days,” you can read it here. The topic and emotions are not too far off from what I am discussing here and there are some great solutions for you to review, including, take a break.

Solution 4: Find Inspiration

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, or a jerk, but likely, your thought or idea is not original. So go search your topic and see if that sparks any memory of how your brain had put a spin on it to make it special for you, your business or your audience.

This can certainly be a dangerous route to go, as the rabbit hole is real - not just an Alice in Wonderland thing. If you want to have forward momentum in executing this idea, try to be specific in your research to cut down on unnecessary information. For example, my idea about recycling electronics - not original, so there are lots of articles and resources out there to research. But, I need to focus on the “How-to,” because that is what my particular client cares about, they don’t really care about the impact on the environment, and that’s what I’ll get if I don’t narrow down my search.

Solution 5: Move On

Every second is precious when you own a small business and also parent a small child (but also, every second is precious, generally speaking). And there is likely a laundry list of things that you need to get through and check off of your list, so move on. Go to the next thing, even if it is monotonous, like accounting (the worst). This might actually help you regain your train of thought and allow you to procrastinate some more on the accounting - a little inspiration for a more fun task.

In Conclusion:

Your brain is on overload, you are trying to do all the things and check all of the boxes too quickly. Slow down and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, an old, but incredibly useful adage in the is blog, in this life and in my world of small business ownership.