The Holidays are long over, New Year’s came and went, Super Bowl happened, Valentine’s Day is but a dim recollection, so what’s next? Ah yes, tax season . . .
Let’s not all rejoice at the same time. Well, not me, anyway. As a self-employed, I now need to plow through all my receipts, sort them, and – you know the rest. And even if you’re not self-employed, you’ll still have stuff to deal with tax-wise. Which means that most of us find endless excuses to not deal with our tax ‘stuff’ until the very last minute. At which time we’re panicking or at the very least, being grumpy and irritable.
I had to ask myself, why would I do that to myself? Why would I turn an inevitable, regular, recurring task into a groany-moany time of misery? Then it occurred to me. What if, instead of putting time and energy into finding excuses for endless procrastination, I put time and energy into finding a way to deal with it relatively painlessly? A true “duh” moment.
Like scheduling it. Which is what I do with everything else. So I can do one part of the necessary tax prep on one day, just for an hour or so, and another part on a different day. Which makes the “medicine go down” much better, to quote that wise sage, Mary Poppins.
You may find taxes easy-peasy, but I’ll bet there are other tasks or chores that you avoid with righteous (and often innovative) excuses until you’re forced into taking care of whatever it is.
Why would you put yourself through such totally unnecessary pain? There really is no need. You’re smarter than that. Take a moment or two to figure out how you might either schedule the task, delegate it, or re-configure it such that you can get it done with ease. Ease - there’s a novel concept! And what a wonderful way to go about life’s “must-dos.”
Now that’s something worth thinking about!
Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and author. Listen to her podcast Up! Uplifting, Inspiring, Practical on Spotify and Google Podcasts