Follow the rabbit holes.

As many as you like.

They are like the fractal flowers: everything is connected underground.

Following something that appears to be a distraction is not a waste of time, if — and it’s a big all-caps IF — you can do it consciously.

Phase 8. Now.

There are three things I know now.

1. Invoking Workless Wednesday and using its powers on things that aren’t working is the most brilliant problem-solving tool ever, outside of Dance of Shiva. Worklessness activate!
2. I cannot wait until every day is like Workless Wednesday. Two or three hours of focused, concentrated getting-stuff-done, followed by a delightful adventure. And some writing. And a nap.
3. I can take my time with that too. We’ll get there. And when we do, it will be beautiful.

Fourth thing: the more time I spend working on the Book of Me, the easier it is to remember this stuff and the faster it is to implement it.

Here are the questions I’m asking myself today:

1. What doors can I close right now?
2. What would make my life easier right now?
3. What will make this more lighthearted and playful?
4. What here needs order?
5. And what here could do with a little intentional chaos?

The hardest part of putting an iguana to bed.

It’s not the way they want another story and then another one.

Or having to remember to bring a glass of water IN THE BLUE CUP like they want it.

It’s deciding which iguana to put to bed if you only have time for one of them.

When all the others are crying and clamoring READ ME A STORY TOO. TUCK ME IN TOO. DON’T YOU WANT TO TAKE CARE OF ME TOO?

My first thing that doesn’t want to be done yet:

A decent HAT for my new program.*

* HAT stands for Havi’s Announcing A Thing — it’s essentially a sales page but I can’t say sales page without having to throw up a little. So I decorate hats instead of writing copy.

I’m doing a three day thing in June about the art of not being intimidated by biggification. Which will be awesome. And will sell out in a day.

If I actually write the page and tell people about it.

Honestly, I thought the insane emotional addiction aspect would be the rough part.

But even once that passes, there’s still all the other hard.

It took a lot of time, tearing-out-of-hair and trying-of-stuff to come up with the systems and the work-arounds that make it work.

So. What didn’t work and what did. Like a Friday Chicken but for my email sabbatical.

No iguana taxation without representation! Unpacking (metaphor!) the metaphor.

Here’s the situation. Tax prep time. Not happening. Except that I’ve been Metaphor Mouse-ing my business systems.

Specifically the ones that help me deal with iguanas (the annoying things that I expertly resist doing)

And last week it was time. To to do the taxes. And ugh ugh ugh. I was being avoidance mouse.

Which means it was time to call on … ta da! Cape-swooshing-sounds! Metaphor mouse!*

To help me and my duck rewrite our associations with “doing taxes”.

* This is is really just me yelling I AM METAPHOR MOUSE to the tune of Iron Man. Obviously.

Explanation please? Iguanability is short for Iguanaccountability, which is what happens when you get deguiltified accountability with your iguanas. Iguanas are the [stupid, crappy, annoying] things you don’t feel like doing. Doing this iguanability thing is a reminder that it’s completely normal to avoid stuff you don’t feel like doing and that you are a [...]

So I like to chicken. It’s my thing. My friend Karen prefers to iguana instead.

Because iguanas are awesomely creepy. And because iguana kind of sounds like “I don’t wanna”, which is how we tend to feel about whatever it is we’re hell-bent on not doing.

Hence the Inowanna Iguana. Which she drew. It just gets more complicated from there so I’m going to stop explaining now.

Just take it from me. Karen is brilliant. And gorgeous. And my chicken is joining the iguanas.

Well, that’s how I do it.

Your version can be way less ramble-ey.

Point 5: There’s time.

Really.

There’s time.