One of my least favorite things to do is to wash and comb through this mop of unruly curly hair on my head. Yet one of my favorite things to have is this mop of curly hair on my head freshly combed, washed, conditioned and styled.
I truly do love my hair.
I just don’t love the work that comes with it.
Story of our lives, right?
It is rare to have something that we love so much, that doesn’t come with work. Lots of it.
Case in point: children. I love all three of my babes. They are delightful, hilarious, smart, energetic and fun. They inspire me, force me to live in the present moment and bring me so much joy on a daily basis.
They also create an enormous amount of work for my husband and I.
They require lots of attention (especially when I’m not in the mood to give it), they need things (for example, food, they need to eat food … all the time!) and one of them refuses to poop in the potty (yes, I just said poop in my article #iaintsorry).
But the enormous amounts of joy I get from having these young humans in my life makes all the work worth it.
It helps to have a trick, or three, to make The Work less painful.
Back to my hair: this weekend, I had the task of washing, conditioning and combing through my hair and was not looking forward to it. The process takes at least an hour, usually longer (hair this good don’t come for free!).
I was procrastinating like a mofo and absolutely dreading it when I got an idea!
An amazing idea!
What if I combined a hot bubble bath (one of my favorite things) and listening to a business podcast (another one of my fav things), with fighting the comb through my hair?
Instead of torturing myself the usual way, I could make Doing The Work of caring for my hair less painful by adding in things I love while doing it. Zingo!
So I did exactly that, I drew myself a hot bubble bath (there are always bath bubbles in the house when you have toddlers), put on a business podcast I love and did the work of combing through my mop of curly hair.
It got me thinking about a method Martha Beck refers to as Bag It, Barter It, Better It.
You have to do The Work for the things you want, but you don’t have to torture yourself. There is a way to make The Work more palatable, and even possibly, enjoyable.
So here’s how it works:
If The Work is something you truly don’t want to do AND you don’t have to do it to get what you want, simply don’t do it. You have a choice. Get rid of the things that drive you bananas and make you miserable. Make like a drug commercial and just say no.
If The Work is something that needs to be done to get what you want, barter it. Pay someone else to do this work. For example, I could totally pay a stylist at a salon to deal with my hair (I don’t cause I hate salons) or I could hire someone to pick up after my children (in fact, I do– housekeeper FTW!). You can also just do a trade. If you hate doing laundry, trade doing the laundry away with someone else in your household in exchange for picking up some of the work they hate to do. That’s a win-win and makes my inner mediator so happy!
Here is my favorite one: better it. That’s what I did with my hair maintenance. Instead of standing in the shower fighting a comb through my hair for 45 minutes, I bettered the experience by adding in things I love. It was much more enjoyable! I was in that hot bubble bath for two hours, listened to two inspiring podcast episodes and my hair got done– it was delightful!
So how can you make The Work you must do, to get the results you’re looking for, more palatable? More doable?
If you want big results, The Work has to get done. There really ain’t no way around it. Except there is. You don’t have to make yourself miserable doing things you aren’t good at or hate doing. Bag it, barter it or better it so that The Work gets done and you get the results you’re looking for, whether it’s a perfectly coiffed head of hair or a seven-figure business.
What are you gonna bag, barter or better so you can enjoy your life more and still get the things that matter done? Hit reply to let me know!
If The Work of creating your own product is what you are struggling with, here’s a way to better it: join me, my team and nine other bosses for a week in the French countryside. Get completely pampered in a stunning chateau with a personal chef and your every need met while you enjoy creating your flagship product. You can choose any one of the stunning rooms at the chateau as your creative studio – perhaps you will work in the beautiful sunny French garden, in the gorgeous library among old leather bound books or in the orangerie with a latte. If you must do The Work of creating an incredible product, you might as well do it in France in style (with tons of support). To get all of the details on MADE: IN FRANCE and to register, head over to rodgerscollective.com/made. We have a new payment plan to make it easier for you to come, but it’s only available until July 31st and there are only 3 spots left.
