Man, 2023 November. Just thinking about it still gives me a knot in my stomach. That period, I was trying to hold together maybe four different side hustles, renovate the spare bathroom, and still pretend I was a functional human being who remembered to buy groceries. I was basically running on three hours of sleep and caffeine, feeling like if one more plate got added to my spinning routine, the whole damn kitchen would just crash down.
I needed a break, but I couldn’t figure out how to take one. Every time I tried to sit down and organize my life, I just ended up staring at the pile of bills and unopened mail, feeling that familiar sense of impending doom. I was completely paralyzed by the sheer volume of things I had to do. I was prioritizing the wrong stuff—answering random emails instantly instead of focusing on the big paying projects.
My wife kept telling me, “You need to slow down, you’re going to burn out.” I knew she was right, but how do you just stop when everything feels urgent? I was convinced if I dropped one ball, my entire reputation would be ruined. It sounds stupid now, but that’s how tight I was wound.
The Discovery: A Weird Piece of Advice
One Tuesday night, I couldn’t sleep. I was scrolling through some random news site, avoiding the spreadsheet I was supposed to be finishing, and I accidentally clicked on an astrology column. I’m not really into that stuff, but the headline for Virgos just hit me square in the face. It said something like, “Virgo: Organization is your superpower, but remember, the greatest success this month comes from embracing radical self-care, not perfect output.”
It was 2023 November advice, and it was talking specifically about letting go of the need for perfectionism to actually achieve organization. That idea—that I was sabotaging my own organization by trying to make everything flawless—that just stuck.
I thought, screw it. What have I got to lose? My current system—which was zero system—was clearly failing. I decided to treat the horoscope advice like a mandatory business plan for the next thirty days. I committed to the practice, head-first.
Executing the Practice: Slashing and Burning
The first step I took was painful: I had to look at everything I was doing and decide what was actually essential. The horoscope said radical self-care. For me, that meant ruthlessly cutting things that only existed because I felt obligated.
I started by tackling the physical mess. My workspace was a disaster zone. I spent four hours just gathering up papers and putting them into three piles: Trash, Important, and Maybe Later. I didn’t organize the important pile perfectly; I just boxed it up. Done is better than perfect, right?
Then I moved onto my schedule. This was the hardest part. I looked at my weekly commitments. I had two weekly client update meetings that were notorious for just rambling for an hour. I immediately emailed both clients, suggesting we switch to a bi-weekly email summary instead. One client pushed back hard, saying they preferred face-to-face. I held my ground, citing the need to prioritize focused work, and offered a shorter, 15-minute check-in call instead. That was a huge win, though it felt like a nasty confrontation at the time.
Next, I implemented the “radical self-care” part. This meant I literally scheduled time for doing nothing. I blocked out 7:30 to 8:00 AM every single morning. That half hour was non-negotiable. I drank my coffee, looked out the window, and didn’t look at my phone or emails. If the phone rang, I let it ring. The first week, I felt major guilt. I kept checking the clock, ready to jump back into work, but I physically forced myself to stay put until the timer went off.
I also started using the “three things rule.” Every morning, I wrote down only three things that absolutely had to be done that day. Anything else was a bonus. If I didn’t get to the extras, I simply rolled them over. Before this, I was writing lists of 15 items, getting overwhelmed, and achieving nothing.
The Messy Middle and the Realization
The middle of November was rough. My system wasn’t perfect. I missed a small deadline because I forgot to check the “Maybe Later” pile. My wife called me out because even with the new structure, I was still spending all day working, just less frantically. The initial feeling of control faded, and I felt the old habits creeping back.
But here’s what happened: because I had set the boundaries and scheduled the breaks, the damage wasn’t catastrophic. When I got stressed, I went back to the 30-minute coffee ritual. The schedule I had implemented became a safety net, not a cage.
The biggest payoff came near the end of the month. I had freed up maybe 10-12 hours a week just by dropping the low-priority fluff and unnecessary meetings. With that extra time, I finally finished the main contract I’d been stalling on, and the quality was actually better because I wasn’t rushing. I paid off two big bills early. The world didn’t blow up because I wasn’t available 24/7. In fact, people seemed to respect the new structure because my response time on the important stuff improved dramatically.
Looking back, the horoscope wasn’t some magical prediction; it was just the kick in the pants I needed, framed in a way that spoke to my specific brand of anxiety—the Virgo need for control. I used that piece of random advice to force myself out of a deep productivity hole, and I learned that sometimes, the most organized thing you can do is aggressively prioritize your own mental health over whatever trivial task is currently screaming the loudest.
- I slashed weekly calls down to 15-minute bi-weekly check-ins.
- I scheduled mandatory, uninterrupted daily coffee time.
- I limited daily goals to three crucial items.
- I embraced “done is better than perfect” for house chores and administrative tasks.
That November advice completely changed how I handle stress and organization. Sometimes the dumbest sources give you the smartest ideas. I keep those principles today. I’m still running four hustles, but now I’m actually sleeping, and the mail pile is manageable. Go figure.
