He is a 20-pound miniature Schnauzer that thinks he is a 200-pound pit bull. Six years ago, this month, I carried him home from his birth mom. I found him online and fell in love with him. He was true to his online profile. He is loving and kind, loves snuggles, and is super smart, but only with those who in his inner circle. To outsiders, he is loud, barky, and quite frankly annoying.

We have been to many trainers, through several classes, and yet, he is still at his core, afraid. Afraid of losing me and so anything he perceives as a threat, is to be yelled at, circled around, and lunged at. It amuses me that this little ball of fluff thinks he can scare away any perceived threat that I apparently can’t handle.

Mark & I travel for work quite a bit. We have a dedicated dog sitter for these occasions, as I don’t want to add to the stress of placing him in a kennel. When the sitter met him for the first time, I was there, and he was terrible. I’m surprised she even agreed to keep him. The next time she saw him, I wasn’t there, and he was an angel. Loving, sweet, “best dog ever,” she said. This wasn’t the first time we have had that experience. (If you are in North Atlanta and want a great pet & people sitter, check out Pets & Peeps –  https://petsandpeeps4u.com/. Karen Thompson also does artwork, and you can see her sketch of Adrian under the “Fun Stuff” tab of the website.)

Apparently, I am a resource to be guarded. He thinks he is the only one who can protect me from the evils of this world like other people, dogs, mops & leaf blowers.

This made me think about how we also guard things, especially in our work. We have tasks we feel like only we can do. However, by thinking this way, we chain ourselves to a job. We become so focused on the things only we can do that we limit our impact. You see, Adrian doesn’t realize that I can take care of myself. I don’t need him to protect me. Your tasks don’t need protection, either.

Once you allow yourself to realize that “done is better than perfect,” you begin to expand your impact and are able to do more. At HireSmart Virtual Employees, we help businesses grow and scale by providing great workers at a fraction of the cost of a traditional hire. If you want to release some of your tasks and need a full time dedicated virtual employee, connect with me.