Last week was one of those weeks. You know, one of those weeks. Where every damn thing goes wrong.
It started with my husband getting the flu. We normally share childcare duties over the weekend, which means I get a few hours to work on my biz, but with him ill in bed I was in full-on mummy duties, so didn’t get to do the work I would have liked to do.
Then my little girl got ill – luckily just a bug, so nothing serious, but it meant she couldn’t go to the childminder during the week. So I had to split my time between dealing with a very snotty and not-so-happy one-year-old, whilst providing tea and sympathy for my hubby, and trying to do work on my business in the meantime.
And then my website spontaneously combusted!
Or something along those lines. Basically every page disappeared, and I couldn’t even log-in to the dashboard.
My web guy told me it was something to do with the server, or the DNS, or the domain, or something like that. Anyway, the upshot was I had to do a live chat with my hosting company to find out how to fix it. If you’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing a live chat scenario with a hosting company, it basically involves typing your questions into a chat box, and someone from the customer services department replying with impossible-to-understand technical jargon.
And then the baby started crying (teething + fever + general snot production = unhappy baby).
So there I am, jiggling the baby on my lap with one hand, whilst typing in the chatbox with the other hand, and simultaneously messaging my web guy to get him to translate the technical jargon.
It was such a ridiculous situation I would have laughed if I hadn’t have been so close to crying!
The next night I was running a webinar. I had 117 people registered for it which was great, but with everything that had gone wrong during the week, I was worried that it wouldn’t go to plan. I did a quick practice run with my husband and it all seemed to be working fine…
Well, you can guess what happened next – yep, first the sound went, then the slides froze, then my computer went into full blown melt-down mode and and I couldn’t even get into the chat-box to message the people on the call. I had to message them in my Facebook group from my phone! It was so frustrating, not to mention embarrassing. Luckily all the webinar attendees were great about it.
It was a bad end to a bad week, and it could have sent me into a downward spiral.
But after giving myself an hour or so to wallow/drink wine/eat chocolate, I knew I needed to pick myself up, dust myself off and get on with things.
I talked it all through with my husband who helped me to see the bigger picture and realise none of these issues were real problems, and they could all be dealt with.
Sooo, the next morning I told myself ‘today is a new day.’ I re-recorded my webinar and sent it out to my list (and had some lovely feedback from people who watched it!) I got someone to help me fix my website. Then I gave myself a break, took the afternoon off and went out for lunch with my little girl.
It made me realise that it could be useful to share my experience and give you all some tips on what to do when the sh!t hits the fan. So here we go…
1. Let it out
It’s ok to feel emotional. So, have a moan, have a cry, and allow yourself to feel whatever emotions you’re feeling. But do it for a limited time. Set aside a couple of hours to indulge in a pity party, but then pledge to get back to positive thinking afterwards.
2. Talk it out
A problem shared truly is a problem halved. So when things go wrong, find someone to share your feelings with, whether it’s your partner, your BFF, a family member, or another biz friend. Sharing your problem with someone else will help you to get some perspective and realise that it really isn’t as bad as you think it is.
3. Be kind to yourself
Things go wrong. People make mistakes. Remember we’re all human. So when things do go wrong (and trust me, at some point they will), don’t give yourself a hard time about it. Be kind to yourself – take some time out to eat chocolate, watch a rom-com, whatever it is that will perk you up.
4. Practice positive thinking
In the past few months I’ve spent time reading positive mindset books. (You can see which ones here). So I’ve had a bit of a mindset shift, and I think that really helped me with dealing with this situation. If you find yourself feeling like everything is going wrong, take some time out to read a chapter of an inspiring book, or look at some inspirational quotes (you can see some of my faves here) or repeat some motivational mantras.
So, lady, it’s over to you! If you have any tips of your own for dealing with days when everything goes wrong, feel free to post them in the comments section.
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