Let me introduce you to Year End Brain. Closing off a business year is an entrepreneur’s nightmare. Well maybe nightmare is too strong a word; I would imagine some of you enjoy the year end paper tango. Even though I have a bookkeeper, some things still fall on me, I have to pay bills and cost invoices. If done monthly or as they come in it might not be such a wad to choke on but I left it go to the end of the year so it feels like climbing a mountain instead of walking a trail.
Sure I can do it, and maybe even do it well, but I don’t find any joy in it. It’s been rather stressful because I have to put 2014 to bed before I can explore 2015 with all its new possibilities and promise. Last night, I was lying in bed not sleeping per the usual, when these thoughts ran through my head.
Year End Brain isn’t your friend nor does it want you to have any. It wants you to be a slave to its bidding until the job is done. It has deadlines so every distraction, every minute you speak or hang out with someone; your Year End Brain interrupts your thoughts and wills you to get back to work. Although you are not allowed to spend time with your friends, Year End Brain has peeps. It’s pretty tight with the Bookkeeper and the Accountant. They send you emails and make phone calls to ensure you stay on course and the pressure mounts because you don’t want to let anyone down.
Year End Brain stops you from doing the things you want to do, like rug hooking and going out for dinner. It doesn’t care if you have house guests or friends in need. It doesn’t give a hoot that you have fun new ideas to get out for the new year, there is only its bidding.
Year End Brain is immune to excuses or diversions. It demands attention and will cause relentless nightmares and headaches if it doesn’t get its way.
Year End Brain’s mortal enemy is Creative Brain, the daydreamer cousin despised for its ability to wander off and play its lackadaisical games.
Year End Brain is a bully, self-serving and suffers from tunnel vision, all it sees is a paper trail to the tax man.
If Year End Brain feels threatened it calls for reinforcements. Enter, Guilt Brain, to gang up and bring you back to order.
Year End Brain has no time for Social Brain, no time for fun. It will suck the luster out of any attempt to enjoy time spent with friends.
Year End Brain is a squatter. Once in, it will not leave until every last bit of paperwork is finished. If left too long, it will cause endless worry, sleepless nights and fingernail chewing. If you procrastinate, alcohol consumption is the only way to rid yourself of its presence, dull the hold it has on you until you don’t give a crap, but it’s only temporary, and it will be back at its post the very next morning. The only lasting and true relief is to buckle down and do the work. Once completed, the shackles of Year End Brain will melt away, bid you farewell and no longer care how you spend your time.
So, I am finished for 2014 and over half of January is gone already! I feel like I should receive an award, and in my speech, thank my genius hubby for all his help yesterday evening. He devised a spread sheet that calculates the cost of goods sold in the push of a button. You load in all the varying information and voila, out pops the cost of an individual item. Before it would take me ages to use the adding machine to find the various costs, especially when an invoice might have ten or twelve items on it. It prorates the freight and calculates the exchange where applicable. If I only want the cost of one of the items on a long page of items, it will do just the one cost.
In my previous life, I did the costing for a company I worked for and used a lot of adding machine tape! Now I have this fabulous spread sheet that is amazing and I’ll use it as shipments come in during the year so I’m not left at the end December with my paper pants down. Year End Brain won’t have power over me ever again! Now to focus on the fun things!
Sure I can do it, and maybe even do it well, but I don’t find any joy in it. It’s been rather stressful because I have to put 2014 to bed before I can explore 2015 with all its new possibilities and promise. Last night, I was lying in bed not sleeping per the usual, when these thoughts ran through my head.
Year End Brain isn’t your friend nor does it want you to have any. It wants you to be a slave to its bidding until the job is done. It has deadlines so every distraction, every minute you speak or hang out with someone; your Year End Brain interrupts your thoughts and wills you to get back to work. Although you are not allowed to spend time with your friends, Year End Brain has peeps. It’s pretty tight with the Bookkeeper and the Accountant. They send you emails and make phone calls to ensure you stay on course and the pressure mounts because you don’t want to let anyone down.
Year End Brain stops you from doing the things you want to do, like rug hooking and going out for dinner. It doesn’t care if you have house guests or friends in need. It doesn’t give a hoot that you have fun new ideas to get out for the new year, there is only its bidding.
Year End Brain is immune to excuses or diversions. It demands attention and will cause relentless nightmares and headaches if it doesn’t get its way.
Year End Brain’s mortal enemy is Creative Brain, the daydreamer cousin despised for its ability to wander off and play its lackadaisical games.
Year End Brain is a bully, self-serving and suffers from tunnel vision, all it sees is a paper trail to the tax man.
If Year End Brain feels threatened it calls for reinforcements. Enter, Guilt Brain, to gang up and bring you back to order.
Year End Brain has no time for Social Brain, no time for fun. It will suck the luster out of any attempt to enjoy time spent with friends.
Year End Brain is a squatter. Once in, it will not leave until every last bit of paperwork is finished. If left too long, it will cause endless worry, sleepless nights and fingernail chewing. If you procrastinate, alcohol consumption is the only way to rid yourself of its presence, dull the hold it has on you until you don’t give a crap, but it’s only temporary, and it will be back at its post the very next morning. The only lasting and true relief is to buckle down and do the work. Once completed, the shackles of Year End Brain will melt away, bid you farewell and no longer care how you spend your time.
So, I am finished for 2014 and over half of January is gone already! I feel like I should receive an award, and in my speech, thank my genius hubby for all his help yesterday evening. He devised a spread sheet that calculates the cost of goods sold in the push of a button. You load in all the varying information and voila, out pops the cost of an individual item. Before it would take me ages to use the adding machine to find the various costs, especially when an invoice might have ten or twelve items on it. It prorates the freight and calculates the exchange where applicable. If I only want the cost of one of the items on a long page of items, it will do just the one cost.
In my previous life, I did the costing for a company I worked for and used a lot of adding machine tape! Now I have this fabulous spread sheet that is amazing and I’ll use it as shipments come in during the year so I’m not left at the end December with my paper pants down. Year End Brain won’t have power over me ever again! Now to focus on the fun things!
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