Michele Linn of the Content Marketing Institute ^[2] emailed me this evening to ask where my article was . . . the one that was due last Friday.

Uh oh. I hadn’t done it . . . because it wasn’t on my schedule (even though I swear up and down I put it there).

In the last six months or so, lots of things have fallen through the cracks. I find myself doing more and more mind-numbing tasks — tasks that eat up tons of time — and less of what I really want to do. I find myself getting flustered and angry and resentful.

Matt Cutts ^[3] has been writing about his 30-day challenges on his blog. I do 30-day challenges with myself but I haven’t been too public with them.

I’m changing that because I want to make a HUGE change. I want to off load the tasks that make me unhappy and upload the projects that make me happy. (See Kel Kelly’s post, Lick Subway Railing or Attend Networking Event? ^[4], about happiness in business.)

Even though it’s not Nov. 1, I’ve already sorta kinda started my 30+ day challenge. I hired a bookkeeper. This is huge for me because I’m one of those people who thinks she has to do *everything* herself.

In other words I have a very hard time asking for help.

But I need help. First off, let me just that I’m a marketer and while I know how to add, subtract and balance my checkbook, anything beyond that makes my eyes glaze over.

Second, I started using Quickbooks Online (huge mistake) and now my books are rife with errors. (The bookkeeper suggested I go back to the desktop version. I’m following her advice — it’s why I hired her.)

Third, I spend hours entering data and pushing buttons and trying to make sense of it all. It never makes sense. It’s like it’s written in Sanskrit.

And last, I HATE ACCOUNTING!

Glad I got that off my chest.

So travel with me during November as I learn how to let go of tasks and make room for the things I do want. As my former coach Sharon Teitelbaum ^[5] told me repeatedly during my coaching calls, I’m the CEO of DH Communications, Inc. I shouldn’t be doing low-level tasks that I can pay someone else to do. (Sharon, btw, is fabulous. If you’re considering work-life coaching, call her.)

What’s your take on the DIY trap? Do you offload everything you can? Or do you get bogged down in details?