Discover how to ‘let go’ of the mind-junk that’s holding your pet business back!
How the Psychology of clutter gave me ‘Loft Tourettes!’
In her infinite wisdom Mrs Pack decided that on the hottest day of the year we would empty the loft in the new house. To be fair this was a ‘must do’ job, especially if we are going to get the loft insulated before the winter.
We’ve learned the hard the way that it’s no good having a roaring open fire, if all that heat disappears up through the roof and into the sky.
I remembered when I put the Christmas decorations back up in there thinking this wasn’t going to be a pleasant job, and so it proved to be.
Last year we found an old Joanna in one of the outhouses which now sits in our dining room, so we had high hopes for some treasure in said loft, but sadly none came. It was all Dungeons and Dragon workbooks, Blake 7 annuals, denim jackets and ski boots. 8 pairs of ski boots, but, only 4 pairs of Skis. Either the previous owner lost a couple of family members on the piste, or they wore one pair of boots going up the mountain and another pair coming back down!
In the end the only worthwhile keepsake was a 1980’s Liverpool football strip, which Toby informs me would cost £90 on EBay. Retro strips for the win!
During the ‘get out’ I developed a case of what Beth called ‘Loft Tourettes’. This involved me randomly shouting words like ‘Fuck’, Shit’ or ‘Bastard’ while I was carrying doors, double mattresses (yes really) and camper van ovens down the ladder.
For future reference a typical ‘Loft Tourettes’ phrase sounds like this; ‘Why did the stupid fucking people who used to live here not take their bastard camper van oven with them when they left’.
You get the idea.
Seriously though, why do people hoard and collect so much junk they clearly don’t need or want?
I don’t know but I have to admit we did exactly the same thing in our old house when we moved.
I’m embarrassed when I think about some of the garbage we stored that we thought we would maybe use again.
Bread maker anyone?
A child’s cot? (This is post-snip Dom too, what were we thinking…)
But it turns out we are not unique. For many reasons us hoomans find ourselves emotionally paralyzed when it comes to deciding what to keep or get rid of, often that ‘stuff’ can wind up controlling us rather than benefiting our lives.
We have sentimental attachments to things, or we may believe our things have hidden monetary value, but the main reason we hang on to things is fear.
However misguided, we can fear the loss of security, status, comfort, and love when we throw things out.
“Tidying lets you stare in the face all of your core beliefs and what you’re living your life based on,” so says Sue Rasmussen, a Minneapolis life coach and decluttering professional. Of course, some people are just mingers.
Whouda thunk it though? Hanging on to stuff makes us feel safe.
As a business coach to pet professionals I see this a lot, most notably on the ‘Turbo coaching calls’ that I do with new PBIC Members.
Often people come to me intensely frustrated because they are awesome at what they do, yet they aren’t making the kind of money they want from their business. They usually have a bunch of new things they want to try. As their coach my first job is to ‘clear the clutter’ so we can make some room for the new stuff to grow.
Two things to note from this;
The first is to continually look at your business through an 80/20 lens. This means you need to always be looking for the 20% of actions that produce 80% of the results. This is something most business owners never do, hence they never move past being the ‘one-man band’ business. In my experience the easiest way to do that is by being part of a mastermind where you get expert ‘fresh eyes’ on your business.
The second thing is if you really want to embrace this way of thinking (and make the most progress possible) then you need to be ruthless about what services you ‘throw away’ from your business. You can’t, nor should you want to, do everything. May’s member of the month Carol Clark said that was the breakthrough moment on the very first coaching call we ever did. She listed a bunch of classes and activities that weren’t making money or providing much fun for Carol, and my first question was ‘So why are you doing them?’.
This means listening to the advice of a mentor and first of all choosing someone to work with who is actually going to tell you straight what they think should go.
Being super successful is about doing the things that the ‘average‘ pet business owners aren’t prepared to do.
This is where having someone in your corner who speaks the truth to you can be a real advantage.
And, if you don’t have a coach in your corner, then make this the month to change that. My Pet Business Inner Circle is the only place where you will learn how to bring your marketing skills up to the level of your dog skills.
In this highly competitive industry, simply being good at ‘the thing’ you do, isn’t enough.
Only the pet business who offer an amazing service, and know how to package and promote their amazing services will thrive.
Find out more about Dom pet business mentoring programs here.
