Rescue Desk

Like most small business owners, I’m always conscious of presenting my best self to clients and business acquaintances. I have a quality (albeit relatively small) collection of jackets, skirts and business suits, I never leave the office without my bag filled with business cards and brochures, and I walk into every meeting and event fully pulled together.  After all, who’s going to trust a professional virtual assistant to keep them organized if she’s not organized herself?

But, let’s face it, sometimes always putting my best professional foot forward takes its toll, especially after several weeks of back-to-back meetings, networking events and staying on my toes when clients call.

My pulled-together self has a secret weapon – R.U.N.  When I execute the launch sequence for R.U.N., I do so far out of sight from my day-to-day professional self.

Codename: R.U.N.

Operation: Rachel Up North

My family has a dinky little two-bedroom cabin that’s planted right into the middle of the Wisconsin north woods.  It’s the first place I run to whenever I’m lucky enough to have a brief lull in my busy schedule.

The first thing I do when I get there? I scrub any trace of makeup off my face, I pull on my favorite pair of old jeans, get my trusty red baseball cap down from the closet, and slap on an oversized $3 sport watch I picked up at a local flea market.

No business suits, no leather-bound portfolios, and no PDA tethered to my hip.

The “raw” me lives like this for two or three days … scouting the nearby trail for firewood, wading in the nearby creek with my dog, taking early-morning hikes looking for a glimpse of the resident black bear, living on hot dogs, and quietly meditating in front of the fire … and doing it all in ratty jeans, baseball cap and cheap watch.  The only technology allowed (per the insistence of my mother) is the 15-year-old microwave in the kitchen.

Last time I returned from a recent three-day retreat from my north woods hideaway, I got to thinking how imperative it is for me to occasionally get back to basics. It’s undeniably one of the biggest weapons in my business-building arsenal. When I’m R.U.N.ing, I simply let whatever happens, happen. I let my thoughts come and go freely. I don’t let a clock dictate my day. I ban the words “I should” from my vocabulary. 

It never fails to provide me with the energy and enthusiasm required to tackle challenges that await back at my office with gusto, and gives me the perspective I need to think outside the box.  I liken returning from my R.U.N. to the middle-of-the-night answer that comes after days of swimming around in the muddy waters of a seemingly impossible question. 

So, take it from me, sometimes the best thing to do when you’re feeling claustrophobic under mounds of paperwork and projects is find a place where you can spend some time just “being.” Be with yourself, be with your family or friends, be with your thoughts.  But, most importantly, just be.

And don’t forget your baseball cap.

My office sits at the top of a hill, right on the edge of a nice little neighborhood. As I sip my morning coffee, I often catch myself staring out the window contemplating something I read in the morning paper, or taking a few minutes to think through the best way to tackle my day’s to-do list. I watch the garbage truck rumble by on Wednesday mornings, kids flying off the bus at the end of the school day, and usually oblige my dog by looking out the window when she lets out a warning bark that alerts me when another dog is incoming from 100 yards out.

This morning, I saw two young boys playing around on the sidewalk. All of a sudden they crouched down, and both went flying down the hill at mock speed on their “wheelie” shoes.

My first thought? “OHMIGOD, they’re going to KILL themselves!”

Of course they didn’t, and they clearly didn’t share my panicked enthusiasm as evidenced by the whooping, squealing, and high-fives that drifted up from the bottom of the hill.

But, it got me wondering. Whatever happened to the days when my first reaction wasn’t a high-pitched freak-out? When was it that my initial thought was “That looks like BIG fun! Let me try!”

I understand that as we get older, we shed pieces of our youthful invincibility every time we survive yet another mistake, risk or challenge, vowing “Holy crap, I’ll never do THAT again!”

But, I think it’s important to try to hold onto at least a little piece of that for as long as possible.

I like to call it Educated Mischief.

It’s kind of like taking “calculated risks,” but runs a little deeper into our inner-selves. It’s that part in all of us that longs to tap into our wisdom and experiences, simply so we can see if we truly can buck the system, take a chance, and put all the faith we can muster in ourselves … and come out ahead.

It’s like taking our years of life experiences for a spin,  putting them to use in ways make traditional conformists cluck their tongues and shake their heads.  It gives a voice to our inner defiant child who wants nothing more than to say “Oh yeah?! Watch me.”

I think anyone who dares to ignore conformity has the capacity for educated mischief. In fact, I think it rears its head in all of us at least once in awhile. It’s the career-ladder-climber who dares to strike out and work for herself. It’s the Mom who doesn’t take any crap when it comes to defending her kids. It’s the guy who musters up the courage to stand up to his bully boss. It’s the high-powered suit-wearing executive whose absolute favorite part of the day is evening … when she moonlights as a dog-walker.

It’s the kid who channels months of wheeling around in the driveway just to fly down a hill.

Don’t be afraid to partake in a little educated mischief. Embrace your inner rebel and let it out to play once in awhile, and see where it leads you. You might be surprised what you find when you trust a little unconventional wisdom.