Short version: my brain is fried at the end of the day but not as fried as it would be without my second brain.

Long version…

Ladies and gentleman, the thing is I like doing everything.

My business is structured around me, myself, and I, and because of this, tax season this year was tough.

For those of you who don’t know, self employed/contracted individuals have to pay self employment tax. This means, you fill out a bunch of schedules for each “business” you have and determine your total gains and how much of a chunk they’re going to take out from your bank account balance.

Part of registering your “business” is letting them know what business you’re in.

However, when I went to fill mine out, I was like…

What on earth do I call myself??? A marketer? VA? Writer? Copper wire hanger maker (although that’s only on the side)?

It sounds silly, but it wasn’t until I finally and with tears in my eyes sat down to do my taxes (don’t worry- yes this event was a couple months ago) that I realized how many hats I wear in a day.

I mean, I really should have realized it sooner. I mean, I shift gears about every hour or so.

Like today, right. I went from having a meeting where we talked about creating a content calendar and tracking KPIs, to designing graphics for a website, to testing custom metadata types in salesforce, to writing an article about registering rental properties in Texas.

Mind you, each task set is for a separate client.

And today I’d consider a less-packed day than at other times.

When I see that I’m like oh, no wonder I’m spent at the end of the day. Duh.

But also, I feel like I’m on crack.

Not to sound weird, but wow my brain really enjoys this stuff.

It’s like the feeling you get when you’re at a buffet and you get to taste test a wide variety of food. Your taste buds are going wild and while you’re savoring the bite you have now, you also can’t wait to try the next plate.

Some people may look at me and go how on earth do you do that every day and keep track of it all???

Three words: Project Management Software.

My brain would explode without my Trello board. Seriously.

Even though my clients all have a different (or no) project management software that they use to keep track of our tasks, I have my own personal board that NO ONE ELSE TOUCHES. It’s mine. All of my times, notes, and projects go in there.

Each of my clients has their own list, and then each day of the week has it’s own list. Due dates, checklists, notes, links- everything I need is there. It’s the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I check when I clock out for the day.

During my time at Praxis, I watched a teaching from David Perell on building a second brain.

It was all about using software to capture ideas and have a spread of random facts and info to pull from whenever you write.

I would describe my Trello board as my second brain.

Everything I need to remember is stored there and on display for me to review at any time, so that way I can remember what I need to and move from task to task without getting too trapped in manager-mode.

When you think about it, that’s a lottt of brain power saved.

If my work-brain is 1TB of memory, then that’s AT LEAST 300 gigs offloaded.

And this is coming from the person who loves keeping everything inside her head all of the time.

Finding the second brain that’s worked best for me has been a game changer and really changed my perspective on businesses as a whole.

Normally business have multiple departments. I’m a business of one, which means I am all of the departments.

I’m the project manager, CEO, worker bee, accounting team, and HR person.

That’s a LOT for one single brain to handle.

Which is why I opted for having two instead.

So, long story short, huge shout out to my second brain. Thanks for keeping me sane.