Clean Up Your Crap!

This is a post about poop.

Both literally and figuratively.

At this point, I’ve either got your attention (if so, thanks for staying with me) or you’ve clicked away because… poop.

Gross.

So let me get right to the point of the poop.

In the literal sense I’m talking about cleaning up my yard of dog waste, a task everyone in this house swore they’d help with when we brought home our dog six years ago (a beautiful black lab mixed with something or other whom we named Maddy).

And, of course, what’s happened since is that only one person in this house seems to be the one who completes this task on a regular basis.

That would be me.

I knew that was going to happen and yet can’t believe it actually happened.

Shit.

Luckily, I love this dog a lot. She’s the only member of this household who shows any enthusiasm when she sees me. She does this with so much love and exuberance, it’s as if she’s making up for the grunts and eye rolls I receive from the others.

That’s why doggos are the best.

Except for having to pick up the poop.

This is a task of daily maintenance. I’m out there with a baggie with some regularity, watching where I step and playing the ultimate game  “pine cone or poop”?

And feeling like, “Didn’t I just do this? Yesterday? The day before that?”

It’s like a never-ending loop… of poop.

But here’s what happens if I don’t get out there daily…

The poop doesn’t stop coming.

It starts to pile up. All over the yard.

Then I think, “When was the last time I did this?”

If I want a nice yard that’s not overloaded with crap, I have to get out there daily to pick it up.

At least until someone else in this house decides to pitch in, as they had promised to do so many years ago.

Now we can get to what this story is truly about… the figurative meaning. If you’ve stuck with me, here’s the payoff:

Like the ladybug in the bathtub, the cackling seagull, and the ballpark hotdog, this is not actually a post about dog poop.

It’s about all the crap in our lives that requires daily clean-up.

What do you find yourself doing on a regular basis (feeling like, “didn’t I just do this yesterday?”) that you know needs to be done daily because it will otherwise pile up?

What types of daily tasks might stink but are necessary to tend to with regularity?

Decluttering? Inbox maintenance? Relationship management?

If you don’t take care of the small things daily, they tend to create a huge mound of…

Shit.

So tend to those crappy tasks even when you wonder why you alone seem to be the only one caring enough to actually take care of them.

The little bit you do each day helps you avoid a bigger mess down the road.

And be sure to hug the furry friend in your life. They make all the crap worth it.

Valerie Gordon is a lifelong storyteller and the founder of career and communications strategy firm, The Storytelling Strategist. She helps clients and audiences harness the power of storytelling to land the job, seal the deal, build their brand, and grow strong teams. Follow her on LinkedIn.