Saturday 13 June 2015

Day 35 - Where has the Time Gone?

Day 35, and I see that I missed a couple of days blogging. But that's because I have been really busy. And better than that...really productive!
After a colossal business failure about eight years ago, which followed on the heels of a divorce, and a toxic rebound relationship, I vowed never again to 1. have a "bricks and mortar" business and 2. never EVER have another business partner.
I started freelancing, and gradually built up a group of nice clients who needed short term contracts to help out with business projects - as one client called me, I was the "Mary Poppins" of business administration - fly in with my black umbrella and a few spoonfuls of sugar and supercalafragli ......oh you get the idea (the British accent helped immensely, I sound trustworthy. Or Royal).
Well, my wine drinking increased in direct proportion to the increase in my disposable income, and very soon, the pesky clients were getting in the way of my inner Wine Bitch.
So gradually, I stopped taking on projects, convincing myself that the future was (is) online and I can build a great business, just sitting in my PJs, and dispensing business wisdom in cyberspace. The Wine Bitch was having none of that.
Firstly, she decreed, productive work should only start after moping around in the morning for about three hours, attempting to quell the acid in my stomach and the jack hammer in my brain. THEN, after faffing on social media for an hour or so - convincing myself that I was "marketing" and researching", I should probably watch the lunchtime news "to catch up on current events". As if somehow, the global terrorism threat had a bearing on my fledgling  "almost business"
And a glass of white wine would quell my nerves about the axis of evil, I would maybe nap for a hour and then rush to my office to look productive, as it neared time for my husband to get home....and then ...Yay!! Wine o'clock!!
You can guess how business has been.....
One day, after getting irrationally grumpy with my husband for inquiring how the business was going..."it takes time you know!....I came across a post on a business facebook page of a business lady I very much admire. She was on holiday, and she posted that she was off to relax by the pool.
"Have a lovely glass of wine and relax" I posted.
"Oh, I don't drink" she posted back.
It was probably a throwaway comment for her. But not for me. It really hit a nerve.
It was then that I began to really examine my habits, and the causal effect on my poor shriveled little business.
It was some while afterwards that I actually gave up for good, but if you read my goals for 2015 - first time I have ever written them down - you will see top of the list is "Stop Drinking".
I am not sure if I will achieve all five goals I set myself for this year, these are the other four - Clear Debt, Earn $100,000, Publish a Book, Launch Online Business, but I know I will have achieved the top one. And because of this, the other four are far more likely.

If you are just starting out on this sober lifestyle - I really recommend writing down goals you would like to achieve with your new sober lifestyle. And refer to them often.

Have a great weekend xx

5 comments:

  1. I'm quite envious that you can accept that you might not reach your goals - I still have the mindset that if I fail then it's the end of the world and I might as well not even try. I'm going to try setting myself some goals for June maybe, and see how it goes.

    Good job on being so productive - knowing you're moving things forward is a great buzz!

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  2. I can only say that if you set small goals to start off with, that will lead you to bigger goals, and celebrate your successes (not with wine!) it will become easier. Once I stopped fixating on the "Big Picture" and only concerned myself with "now", I became happier and more productive. Good luck xx

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  3. Well done on day 35 and sounds like you're really making progress. Love your description of you're previous typical day. It's funny how we can justify pretty much anything when we want to, especially when it comes to drink!!

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  4. i like the idea of writing down goals. i guess it might help if i had any clue what i wanted!

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    1. It takes a while - I used to flounder around in my wine fog, not knowing what i really wanted, until I made the fog lift.

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