Key Point

• Take the time to get organized and be proactive so you don’t get caught without your supplies, your session preparation, or, worse, a book of clients.  

Are you familiar with the bad-day phenomenon? For me, it’s when something awful happens and the dominoes keep falling until there’s coffee all over my computer, I’ve stubbed a toe, and my keys are locked behind a door.

The bad day is a first cousin to an unprepared day. That is, days when I run out of paper towels, a client has a new issue and I can’t find my pathology book, and my credit card swipe device is hiding. It’s not the individual mishaps that are the problem, it’s our lack of readiness to handle them.

Sure, we can always improvise—dash out for paper towels, do an internet search for unfamiliar conditions, or manually process credit card transactions. But deep down, we know we could have done better. We could have been more organized, more proactive in anticipating these eventualities. I will kick myself for procrastinating errands, never putting books back where they belong, and storing 47 receipts and an emergency fork in my desk drawer along with my credit card swipe device.

The Spectrum of Unpreparedness

On a big scale, lack of preparation can demolish your business. If your office gets burgled tonight, do you have property insurance—and enough of it—to replace what is taken? Natural disasters pose the same threat to our livelihood as do health issues and injuries that prevent you from working.

This extends well past tangible matters like paper towels. Sometimes, I’m emotionally unprepared. I’ll have to summon my waning patience for a client who demands a lot of attention. Sure, I can get a warmer pillow. Sure, I’ll smile and murmur “mm-hmm” while they talk about their daughter’s terrible new boyfriend for 60 minutes.

Occasionally, I’m not positive enough to handle a slow week (or month) that damages my confidence. Are all my clients leaving me? Is everyone out of town at the same time? This job can be draining on a good day; it’s downright disheartening when unpreparedness and difficulty collide. The good news is, we can prepare.

Schedule Time for Homework—Then Do It

Unprepared days can be avoided and bad days reduced if we take the steps to ready ourselves and nail down our business practices. Practically, this looks like:

• Scheduling regular errands and office upkeep—and sticking to those routines

• Having good liability and property insurance

• Maintaining an effective filing system so we can find all the information we need when we need it (this includes banking information, office-related documentation, client files, and licensure and related credentials)

• Creating (and using) a process for client retention so a slow week doesn’t turn into a slow month

It can help to set aside dedicated time to get your business systems in order. It’s ideal to spend a whole day every month until you have it all together or just a two-hour chunk of time weekly until you feel good about your preparations. This can be really hard to work into your schedule, but it’s worth the effort.

Take Care of Yourself Too

Equally important (but often forgotten) is taking care of ourselves. Schedule regular massages or bodywork to recharge both physically and mentally. Make plans to connect with friends or colleagues for much-needed peer support. 

It’s not glamorous. This foundational work of a business is not exciting. It’s a bit boring, really. But this is the work that creates a sustainable and fulfilling business. It’s what ultimately makes a business easier to run in the long term, without causing burnout.

We can’t always predict when a bad day will strike, but we can certainly take steps to minimize its impact. By embracing preparedness in all its forms—practical, emotional, and strategic—we can strengthen our businesses and prepare ourselves for whatever challenges come our way.