She opened up my Quicken file, and I felt my face turn beet red. I wanted to climb under the table and hide.

I had just met my new bookkeeper and had started explaining my finances. I suppose what I was really explaining was my dysfunctional relationship with my bank and credit card companies. It was a mess. I had more debts than assets, and everything was in disarray.

Before the meeting, my instinct was to keep doing it myself. I didn’t want to hand off this disaster. I wanted to get myself straightened out, organize things, and have everything under control before I showed this stuff to another human being.

I had already resisted getting help with the books for a couple of years. I was entering the data, collecting the statements, and reconciling the accounts all by myself.

The last thing I wanted was for anyone else to know how badly I had screwed up. I was disorganized, in debt, and completely out of control.

What I was doing was a complete disaster, and my totally irrational response was to keep doing it my way. I resisted getting anyone involved who could help me do it better.

It’s weird that I resisted getting help when I so desperately needed it. If things had been going well, I wouldn’t have needed a professional. Instead, things were going poorly, and I had convinced myself that I could do it myself.

There’s no rational explanation for my refusal to get help. It makes zero sense. I can see that now.

Are You Resisting Getting Help?

The resistance to getting help applies to many issues beyond finances. I’ve seen the same resistance with marketing, technology, and management.

It’s shockingly common for us to adopt the idea that we’ll get help once we straighten out the mess. (Maybe it’s like my wife insisting that we clean before the housekeeper comes?) Of course, the mess won’t ever get straightened out without the help we need. We can’t do it.

Catch–22?

If we were good at doing the thing, whatever the thing might be, we wouldn’t be in this mess. We can’t fix it, or it wouldn’t have turned into this mess.

Choose the Path of Least Resistance

Once I got beyond my resistance and put the new bookkeeper to work, my finances turned in the right direction. The bookkeeper helped me arrange a real accounting system (we moved from Quicken to QuickBooks). She found an excellent accountant, and then we added a financial advisor to the mix.

I was surprised. I really didn’t expect that anyone could fix my mess, yet things were moving in the right direction—quickly.

Why didn’t I believe that these professionals could help me? I still can’t answer that question. I’m sure it’s all deeply rooted in my complex, crazy psychological makeup. I definitely wasn’t being reasonable.

Objectively, the situation was simple—incredibly simple—when looking at it from a distance.

1. I had financial issues.
2. I created the issues.
3. I believed I could fix the issues myself.
4. I couldn’t fix the issues myself.
5. I hired financial professionals.
6. They did their job and solved the problems.

That’s the way things work. Professionals produce results.

Are you waiting until you fix things before you hire someone to help you fix things? Take it from me, someone who has been there and done that: waiting is crazy.