After my Run Fat Bitch Run column, much to my surprise and delight, it seemed as though the Grit Doctor's voice had really struck a chord with people, and it occurred to me that if the Grit Doctor can winch us off the couch and get us moving, then surely she can galvanise us into action elsewhere in our lives?
And that's how the idea for Get Your S h!t Together was born. In some ways it's a sequel to Run, Fat Bitch Run , to engage Inner Bitch devotees to piggyback onto their success in sorting out their weight and/or fitness and tackle other "life management" issues; to start making those changes in areas where you have always wanted to, but somehow never get round to it because something else always gets in the way, (more often than not it's the fridge or the telly)!
For example, have you been meaning to re-decorate the spare room ever since you bought that flat? Keen to clear out the cupboard under the stairs? Join an art class? Bored with your career? In love with Mr Oh-So-Very-Wrong? Desperate to keep on top of the chaos and mess? It can all be done with a very gentle nudge from the Grit Doctor, and a lot of help from your own Inner Bitch.
We are all prone to procrastination, to putting it off until later, and we are all experts at giving our “reasons” as to why we can’t do X or Y or Z. In much the same way as we are all prone to eating too much crap and not take enough exercise.
The human condition loves excuses – we are excuse-making machines.
And yet, we are all familiar with that incredible feeling we get when we choose to give up those excuses and actually do the thing that has been driving us mad for not having yet tackled, and is singularly responsible for us having opened the fridge a million times before lunch, and facebooking till our eyes bleed: the laundry, your tax return, that row with your mum: because the truth is that we are most ourselves, most energised, and most alive when we give up our excuses and take the action necessary to sort whatever it is out instead.
This is where my new book comes in, both to inspire and motivate us to tackle whatever it is that needs doing and to give us the courage and the commitment to see it through.
Some tips to get organised and stay organised:
Create a
Grit Hour every day in which to tackle your worst most loathsome and difficult tasks;
Make s**t up. By that I mean, if a task isn't urgent make it urgent . If the urgency or perceived importance of a task is paralysing you from tackling it, trivialise it . Create artificial deadlines: I set myself weekly word counts and elevate their status to deadline status as the week comes to an end.
Make the margins between tasks smaller so that you have to get your s**t done fast or you will be late, for example, to pick the kids up from school if you don’t finish your run on time (I imagine I am being chased by rabid dogs if I feel myself slowing down)! Professional swimmers imagine there are sharks in the pool . . . Weaving games and shenanigans into tasks can work wonders provided you don’t get caught up in creating overly complicated rules.
Never think
“I am too tired” to do anything. Tiredness is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sure I am tired, but I’d much rather be tired having got some s**t done than having used my tiredness as the reason for not having done anything. Use really tired times of the day to tackle those jobs that actually benefit from you being completely zombie-fied and brain dead, like sorting out the laundry and filing bills/receipts/admin.
Give yourself an injection of confidence by telling yourself that no-one knows what they are doing. My dad gave me this brilliant piece of advice when I was training to be a barrister and felt intimidated and inadequate. It really came into its own when I became a mother and felt as though I was the only mum alive who didn’t have a clue what she was doing. Everyone is faking it to a certain extent.
Develop the skill of looking at a massive project or hugely overwhelming task and work out how to break it down into bite-sized chunks which are totally doable one at a time.
Get Your Sh!t Together shows you how.
Channel negative energy (Pissed off? Angry? Frustrated? Fearful? Jealous?) into action . Convert all that rage into get-s**t-done-adrenalin. Don't let it rob you of your mojo and leave you fuming on the couch gobbling Dairy Milk and quaffing wine, make it fire you up into doing stuff. How? By choosing it to be so. Going for a run or engaging in some other intensive aerobic activity is a great way to make use of all that negative energy, and use the ensuing endorphin rush to do something positive and productive.
Laugh a lot. Especially at yourself, and all the dark and miserable stuff over which we have no control, like this never-ending winter. I had a great tweet from a woman the other week just back from her run when it was still snowing with the hashtag #wintercangof
**kitself. Now that is a great example of channelling the grit, the misery, and the frustration of life into humour and get-up-and-go.
The Grit Doctor says:
Don’t get hung up on chasing “happiness” all the time – it has absolutely nothing to do with laughter, and everything to do with making us feel miserable.