picture: darcknyt.wordpress.com

The past week has been one of the most stressful weeks I ever had since I started to work as a VA (Virtual Assistant).

I applied for a couple of jobs with the hope that clients will respond soon. After waiting for quite a while, three clients finally responded last week on different days.

At the start of the week, a client gave me my assignment which I worked on eagerly. It kept me busy during the first few days. Friday morning, an old client sent me an invitation to work on a project with her. Without hesitation, I accepted the job offer because I really like this client very much. She is not at all demanding,  gives clear instructions and is so easy to work with. It was a good thing that I already completed the assignment for the other client which gave me time to move on to this next project. However, on Friday afternoon, I got a job invitation from another client. Because I did not want to miss out on the opportunity, I accepted it as well.

So there, three clients in a week!

I was able to deliver the desired results to all of them but the “stress” took its toll on my health. As I am writing this article I’m suffering with eye strain, colds, cough, and headache. My husband was getting worried and I promised him that this won’t ever happen again. In the future, I know that I must pace myself if I want to be able to do this for a longer period of time.

If you are a new VA (like me) reading this blog post, I’d like to share with you some realizations I came out with from this past week’s experience.

1. Health is wealth.

Our life cannot be measured in monetary values. Yes, we work to earn our keep and that is good. But we must take care of ourselves so that we can work better and longer. If I may quote from Stephen Covey’s  book , The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People :

“If you adopt a pattern of life that focuses on golden eggs and neglects the goose, you will soon be without the asset that produces golden eggs.”

2.  Be responsible. Be committed.

Admittedly, I accepted job offers more than I can handle but out of a commitment to my clients, I fulfilled my work well. Even if I wasn’t feeling well, I completed my job excellently.

3. Set goals.

Set both big and small goals. A big goal would be something like, I will finish this project by the end of the month. A small goal can be something like what you want to finish at the end of the day. Like in this case, I know I needed to finish the two projects by the end of the week (2 days). So what I did was to consciously set a time table per task. After I have finished a task, a sense of accomplishment (no matter how small) motivated me to do the next… and the next… and the next. Before I knew it, the job has been completed. Such a great feeling, indeed!

4. Breathe… inhale… exhale.

Now this is something that I didn’t do which I now know I should have done. I should have taken breaks. I heard about the 20/20/20 rule for those who work for long hours in the computer: after every 20 minutes, take your eyes off from the computer for 20 seconds and look at something that is 20 feet away. My version would be to take a break every 20 minutes, close your eyes, breathe in and out for twenty seconds. This would have helped me to relax.

5. Attitude.

I believe that the key to happiness in life is attitude. Albert Einstein’s three rules of work describe exactly what I have in mind:

“Out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

I’d like to end this blog post by saying that our work is our bread and butter. Whether we like it or not, we have to find ways to sustain our needs. The fact that we are able to work and enjoy the fruits of our labor is a gift from God. It is Albert Einstein who said that :

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

I choose to believe the latter, and it has made all the difference!

~ Marisa