Bite Gloves for Procrastination

Procrastination is a dirty word when you’re a groomer, especially if you're a business owner. If you procrastinate over doing tasks, then no one is left to complete them, which leads to a feeling of overwhelm, which leads to you questioning why you started your business in the first place. Sound familiar?

Business owners who also groom in their businesses have the added pressures of completing their clients in a timely manner and then all the day-to-day background work. A business takes SO much time after the dogs are done to run smoothly.  Often in my case, procrastination is a synonym for laundry build up, paperwork over flow, growing list of clients to call back and stress at home.  I'm literally one person and I can't do it all.

Put on your bite gloves to wrestle with your procrastination habits and find your motivation.  I'd love to see your business implement these simple strategies. Just because they’re simple doesn’t mean they’re easy!

Find an accountability partner

Holding yourself accountable for your goals is a key factor to accomplishing your weekly goals. Having to tell someone you failed at reaching a goal or making excuses to that person is uncomfortable, especially if this chosen partner is a “tell it like it is” person who won’t accept your excuses or let you off easy. Even if you just choose one goal a week, knowing someone is waiting to hear an update is often enough to spur you to action.

Visualize the future you want.

A powerful exercise to prioritize what you want in the future is to create a vision board. Working on a digital vision board is simple and exciting because you choose pictures that speak to you; you’re paying attention to your subconscious desires which can be quite different than your intellectual desires. Posting these photos on your vision board gives them life, it makes them a solid goal in your life and should inspire you to work hard to reach those goals. But don’t keep those goals a secret. Tell your spouse, parents, friends, or kids so they can be your cheering squad.

Harness the fear.

Sometimes procrastination evolves from a fear of getting out of you comfort zone. It’s a form of denial but no matter how long you put something off, it’s not just going to disappear on its own. Reaching out of your comfort zone can be rewarding if not nerve-wracking and oftentimes you’ll discover the task itself was easier or less complicated than you thought it to be.

Tackle your most important task first.

Start your morning with a bang by completing your most important or your biggest task of the day. Maybe this is your bookkeeping that isn’t up to date or maybe it’s a client call or cleaning behind a kennel bank. Don’t just assume you can do it later because you don’t know what emergencies or client crises later will bring.

Hire a team member or outsource.

It’s OK to admit you need help running your business. If the small mundane tasks are holding you back, then hire a virtual assistant to handle those tasks. Delegate those tasks which cause you to procrastinate and you’ll find a new love for your business. In the end, you’ll also come out ahead because while she’s taking care of business, you can take care of your money-making tasks.