Tag Archives: trust

“I play for food.”

I enjoy the game of golf.  More appropriately, I enjoy the four hours of social connection and if there happens to be some golf thrown in, all the better.

Every once in a while I feel a need to participate in some golf competition.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m kind of a competitive girl, but competing in golf can get me really twisted up and the competition takes a bit of the shine off the enjoyment of the game.  So, when I play competitive golf, I choose the mindset of “I play for food.”

Why does this work for me?

  • “Playing for food” shifts my perspective from the competition to something I enjoy much more . . . the social aspect.
  • As a general rule, golf competitions involve some pretty good breakfast, lunch or dinner cuisine. Win.
  • Meals provide the perfect social atmosphere to engage with people of similar passion. Win. Win.
  • Whether you win or lose, the food is the same. Win. Win. Win.

How can you make this philosophy work for you?  Shift your perspective.

Do you need to have a difficult employee conversation?

If a difficult conversation is necessary, chances are the employee is feeling stress and tension also.  Ask yourself “What’s the most common, positive outcome this conversation can have?”  Even if the only common, positive outcome is more broadened understanding between both parties, win, win. Perspective shift.

Are you stressed out about an upcoming difficult negotiation?

Negotiations are tough.  The best outcome is that someone agrees to your terms, the worst is that they won’t.  Shifting our perspective from “What’s the best possible thing that can happen?” and visualizing that outcome versus “I know they are going to try to cheat me out of what I’m worth.

” will provide a positive base for how you present yourself. Perspective shift.

Are you throwing a party and are completely stressed-out about your house?

There was a time when having a party in my home practically made me physically ill.  I was certain people were judging me based on my decorating style (which there’s not a lot of) and the quality of the food (I’m also not an adventurous cook).  Then someone said the most thoughtful thing: “We really enjoy coming to your home.  It’s so comfortable and the food isn’t pretentious.”  Wow!  The stress and the worry about things not being perfect had completely overshadowed the enjoyment of inviting people to our home.  Perspective shift.

What fears could you let go of if you shifted your perspective to expect only positive outcomes?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

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National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

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Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD

 

The Real Costs of Procrastination

Most of us do at least a little of it every day.

Procrastinate.

We tell ourselves “I’ll get to that later” and most of the time we do.  But what happens if we don’t?  What if we procrastinate too long?   What are the costs?

We try to convince ourselves that there’s little-to-no cost of procrastination, but there can be significant costs, some very tangible, others more subtle.

Relationships:  We’d like to think that the people closest to us know we have only the best intentions when it comes to follow-through, but what about the every day costs to our relationships that procrastinating causes? The partner that agreed to pick up the dry cleaning on the way home and procrastinates until the cleaner is closed. The parent who agreed to bake for the school event and procrastinates until it’s too late and disappoints their child by providing store-bought treats instead of the home-made they’d promised their classmates.  The friend that promises to make a dinner reservation for a special event and procrastinates until the restaurant can’t accommodate the request.  Yes, these are all small things, but significant in relationship-building.  Cost of procrastination:  Trust.

Health:  As a breast cancer survivor, I am keenly aware of the cost of putting off health-related appointments.  Regular health screenings and preventative maintenance, like flu and pneumonia shots, are critical to our well-being so they shouldn’t be put off.  Use whatever strategy works to get things done: schedule mammograms with a girlfriend then go to lunch; schedule all the appointments on your birthday as a gift to yourself; schedule a massage or a round of golf after all the appointment are complete.  You get the idea, whatever works to motivate. Cost of procrastination:  Poor health.

Household Chores:  I don’t know anyone that likes to clean the gutters.  Cleaning gutters involves a ladder, dragging it around the house, possibly getting on the roof (I recommend hiring an expert if your gutters need to be cleaned from the roof or if the ladder is too high), and smelly, wet leaves.   And, as gutter-cleaning procrastinators, we generally end up doing it in the rain and at night since  that’s when we notice that the drainpipes are overflowing.  Wouldn’t it have been much easier to have cleaned the gutters on a nice, sunny Saturday before the rain starts?  From personal experience, I can tell you it is.  And it’s not just gutters we need to worry about.  Not cleaning furnace filters will result in reduced productivity and higher energy bills.  Not cleaning the dryer vents may result in a lint fire.  Not checking the water softener will result in spotty glasses. The list goes on and on.  Cost of procrastination:  Stress, money, and safety.

Home/Car Repairs:  It’s a fact of life, things break.  Whether it’s the toaster, the sink, or the car, stuff just happens and we have to deal with it.  The cost of not fixing or replacing a faulty toaster could mean no toast in the morning or getting shocked while trying to retrieve the toast with a kitchen fork (strongly NOT recommended!).  The costs of not fixing a leaky sink could be just a minor annoyance to extensive damage to flooring, cabinetry or walls.  The cost of not addressing squeaky brakes could be devastating to the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.  Cost of procrastination:  Money, major home/car repairs,  and safety.

Organization (my personal favorite):  According to a study conducted by a Boston marketing firm, the average American burns 55 minutes per day – roughly 13 days a year – looking for things they know they own but can’t find.  Disorganization manifests itself in many ways:  wasted time because we can’t find things; finance charges because we didn’t pay our bills on time; late fees for not returning a library book or DVD; money wasted replacing things we already own because we couldn’t find them when we needed them; and trust because we didn’t finish a project on time due to dysfunctional time management.   Being organized means we can find things when we need them, we can do the things we need to do when they need to be done, and we can get the places we need to get on time.   Cost of procrastination:  Time, money, and trust.

Wills:  Not that any of us want to think about it, but at some point, our earthly possessions will need to be passed on to someone else.  It’s true, as cool as our stuff is, we can’t take it with us.  Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had some say in where our cool stuff went?  Well, that’s what wills  are for.  A number of surveys recently showed between 55% – 64% of of  Americans had not written their wills.  That number doesn’t surprise me at all.  It should, but it doesn’t.  None of us want to think about death and dying, but it is irresponsible to our loved ones not to take care of this important process.  Cost of procrastination: Money, Relationships.

Financial Planning:  Detailed and thorough financial planning is critical to our long-term well- being.    When we are in our twenties and thirties, we can’t see past a new pair of jeans, let alone think about planning for our retirement.  Those days just seem too far away, but it’s never too early to start planning for our retirement. What’s the benefit of starting early?   Using the compound interest calculator, I wanted to see how much a relatively small investment could grow over time.  I started with $1,000 and estimated that I’d put in an additional $50 per month (about 10 lattes with a generous tip) and calculated the growth over 10 years at a 5% interest rate.  What would I have at the end of that time period?  $9,175.63.  Change it to 20 years and the number becomes a staggering $22,492.87.  Amazing what a little planning and discipline could do for our long-term financial well being.  Cost of procrastination: Limited Retirement Savings, Reduced Retirement Enjoyment.

Taxes:  According to a CBS News post, the cost of waiting until the last minute to file income taxes costs on average an additional  $400.  It’s not that we can just choose to not pay our taxes by April 15 (give or take).  (Well, some folks may, but I’m guessing the cost of that decision is much greater than $400.)   We are just delaying the inevitable.   If we thought we were getting money back on our taxes, we’d be Johnny-On-The-Spot when it came to filing our taxes, right?  Not necessarily. Procrastinators are procrastinators, and whether we think we are getting money back or having to give Uncle Sam money, we generally wait until the last minute to do it anyway.  In addition, the extra $400, the stress of not knowing takes a tremendous toll.   Cost of procrastination:  Money, stress.

Business Costs:  A 2012 CNBC post identified the cost of procrastination in business as being a staggering $10,396 . . . . per employee . . . per year.  Wow!  The article referred to procrastination as “the most invisible cost in business today.”  I don’t doubt it.  When I worked in “Corporate America,” I surely procrastinated a bit on projects that I knew needed to get done, but I just didn’t feel motivated to do.  Why did I procrastinate?  Generally, I felt I didn’t know enough about the project to get started, didn’t feel I had the appropriate resources to get the project completed, or just found other stuff that was more fun to do.  Cost of procrastination:  Money, Credibility, Possible Promotion

Insurance:  After procrastinating on the project for a couple years, we went through a comprehensive analysis of our home insurance needs.  After extensive research, we found an amazing insurance package that was far less in cost with far more coverage.  Had I gone through the process a few years earlier, we would have been able to save several thousand dollars AND had more extensive coverage.  It sickens me to think of what I might have been able to do with that money. The same goes for renewing any kind of insurance:  auto, home, personal liability, health, etc.  I worked with a client several years ago that hadn’t done a detailed review of their business auto insurance in several years.  After an analysis of their coverage, it was determined that two of their vehicles hadn’t been included in the policy.  Can you imagine the cost had there been an accident with one of those vehicles?   Frightening.   Cost of procrastination:  Money, Peace of Mind, Liability

Fortunately, procrastination can be managed.  It requires scheduling, initiative, and a drive to do better, but it can be done.

The best way to stop procrastinating?  Just get started.  Starting small will provide the momentum to finish.  Unfinished tasks are uncomfortable for us.  Once we get started, we have the drive to finish.

 

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

International Coach Federation

 

 

 

 

Professional Resource Member

 

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD

The Power of Predictability

Seasons change.

Winter turns to Spring.

Spring turns to Summer.

Summer turns to Fall.

Fall turns to Winter.

We know it’s happening.  We have a pretty good idea what to expect.  We can prepare for it.

It’s predictable.

For you Myers Briggs types, I’m an ESTJ — Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (but not in a bad way).  I’m practical, hardworking, structured, organized, dependable, and predictable.

Ask anyone that knows me.

  • If I say I’ll do it.  I do it.
  • If I say I’ll be there at 5:00, I’ll be there at 5:00.  Not 4:45 or 5:15.  5:00.
  • I pretty much wear the same style of clothes every day . . . . practical and not too flamboyant.
  • Give the opportunity, red wine vs a mojito.  🙂

I’m predictable and most of the people that I surround myself with appreciate it.  They know what to expect from me.  They know they can depend on me. They know what I value. I don’t live on the edge.  A relationship with me is pretty safe (possibly a little less exciting, but safe).

What happens when we are unpredictable in our personal or professional lives?

  • People stop trusting our word.
  • Our team members spend an inordinate amount of time processing “what if” scenarios in their heads.
  • Opportunities may pass us by because people aren’t comfortable that we will hold up our end of the bargain.
  • We stop getting invited to things because we may show up late (or not at all), say insensitive things or dress in appropriately.

How predictable are you?

How is your level of predictability helping or hurting your relationships?

 

 

Cindy Jobs

www.organizetosimplify.com

National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter Vice President
ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 website
Institute for Challenging Disorganization:
Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.
Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.
Coach Approach for Organizers
Graduate of the Comprehensive Training Program: Coaching Essentials; Strengths-Based Coaching; Brain-Based Coaching; Life and ADHD Coaching; and Organizer Coach Integration
Graduate-level training: Body-Based Coaching; ADHD Coaching Competencies

Are you prepared?

Pixabay HouseNothing lets you know you aren’t prepared for life little disasters, or big ones for that matter, like preparing your will/trust or changing your homeowner’s insurance.  We’ve done both within the last nine months.  It was a great wake-up call that I needed to get some things in better order.

First off, when we processed our will/trust documents, the attorney needed tons and tons of information, including all our financial assets (bank accounts, retirement accounts, 401k accounts, investments, etc.), real estate holdings, life insurance policies, etc.  Fortunately, I had most of that stored on a handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet so it was pretty easy to pull together.

Next we looked into our homeowners insurance and found that we were possibly woefully mis-insured.  We had a lot of insurance, but was it allocated correctly (liability vs umbrella policy)?  Would it cover individual items or just blanket coverage?  Did we have everything appropriately insured (specific jewelry, etc.).  Again, an eye-opening project.  Several years ago I took pictures of all the rooms in our home, highlighting individual items that may be of significant value.  I felt really good about getting that done . . . . . but I haven’t updated it since.  My guess is that our TV has changed, for sure the computer, and who knows what else!  If something were to happen and we were asked “what computer got stolen?” I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to give them the current make and model.  Clearly I have some work to do.

To that end, I started poking around to see if there were appropriate, ready-made life and home inventory packages available.  Sure enough I found a few.

Mind you, this is a new project for me too and I haven’t tried any of them, but I thought I’d share what I’ve found in case you are facing the same project I am.

Life In A Case

“LifeinCase™ organizes documents into an intuitive five-part system: Personal, Medical, Property, Estate, and Financial each featuring a durable file folder and handy checklist of suggested documents to store.” (from lifeincase.com)

HomeZada Home Management Software

“HomeZada allows you to budget and manage projects, inventory your home, set and track maintenance reminders,  and even offers tools for selling or buying a home. From the dashboard, you can track your home’s value, taxes, maintenance expenses, assets, and so on.” (from www.hammerandmoxie.com)

Life Documents Organizer by Smead

“The Life Documents Organizer Kit helps you organize and store key life documents such as wills & trusts, health care directives, investment and retirement plans, marital documents and contact information.”  (from www.smead.com)

Life Organizer

“Produced as a three-ring-binder, Life Organizer includes 8 tabs with pockets, 15 plastic sleeves for storing copies of important documents, and 1 sleeve to hold 2 DVDs for photo and video inventory, plus dozens of worksheets, checklists, and pages for contact information of family members and professionals.

Whether you’re a baby boomer planning your estate, parent with a new family, or recent grad just beginning to earn an income, it’s a beautiful and helpful organizer for anyone at any age.” (from www.amazon.com)

In addition to accurate records of who we are and what we own, these organizing products may give us something even more valuable . . . . peace of mind.

Cindy Jobs

Organize to Simplify CMYK

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

cindy@organizetosimplify.com

206-707-3458

National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Area Chapter President

seattle

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization, Six Certificates of Education

ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 website

 

The Real Costs of Procrastination: Installment #2

Procrastination Your Cards Image

Procrastination is a tricky thing.  Frankly, I procrastinated writing this post for 6 days.  When I was working on The Real Costs of Procrastination: Installment #1 I thought “I’ll just dive right into Installment #2.”  Did I?  No.  Why?  Because I had a whole week to do it.  Now, here I am at the 11th hour trying to get in done in time for the deadline.

What was the cost to me of that decision?  Significant stress.

Last week I published The Real Costs of Procrastination: Installment #1 that dealt with the tangible and intangible costs of procrastinating on Relationships, Health, Household Chores, Home/Car Repairs, and Organization (my personal favorite).  Installment #2 will tackle Wills, Financial Planning, Taxes, Business Costs, and Insurance.

Wills:  Not that any of us want to think about it, but at some point, our earthly possessions will need to be passed on to someone else.  It’s true, as cool as our stuff is,  we can’t take it with us.  Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had some say in where our cool stuff went?  Well, that’s what wills are for.  A 2008 study found that 58%  of Americans did not have a will.  That number doesn’t surprise me at all.  It should, but it doesn’t.  None of us want to think about death and dying, but it is irresponsible to our loved ones not to take care of this important process.  When someone passes without a will, the state gets to decide what happens to your stuff.  In most situations it could be pretty straight forward:  the inheritance goes to the spouse, the kids, etc.  But what about our businesses?  What about our stepchildren or non-marital significant other?  What if we didn’t want everything divided equally?  What if we wanted all our money and possessions to go to a favorite charity?  Without a valid will, none of these situations would probably be resolved to our desired expectation.  Cost of procrastination: Money, Relationships.

(Phew, glad to have that one out of the way.)

Financial Planning:  Detailed and thorough financial planning is critical to our long-term well being.    When we are in our twenties and thirties, we can’t see past a new pair of jeans to even think about planning for our retirement.  Those days just seem too far away. It is never too early to start planning for our retirement; but lots of times it can be too late.  What’s the benefit of starting early?   Using the compound interest calculator, I wanted to see how much a relatively small investment could grow over time.  I started with $1,000 and estimated that I’d put in an additional $50 per month (about 10 lattes with a generous tip), and calculated the growth over 10 years at a 5% interest rate.  What would I have at the end of that time period?  $9,175.63.  Change it to 20 years and the number becomes a staggering $22,492.87.  Amazing what a little planning and discipline could do for our long-term financial well being.  Cost of procrastination: Limited Retirement Savings, Reduced Retirement Enjoyment.

Taxes:  According to a CBS News post, the cost of waiting until the last minute to file income taxes costs on average an additional  $400.  It’s not that we can just choose to not pay our taxes by April 15.  (Well, some folks may, but I’m guessing the cost of that decision is much greater than $400.)   We are just delaying the inevitable.   If we thought we were getting money back on our taxes, we’d be Johnny-On-The-Spot when it came to filing our taxes, right?  Not necessarily. Procrastinators are procrastinators, and whether we think we are getting money back or having to give Uncle Sam money, we generally wait until the last minute to do it anyway.  In addition the the extra $400, the stress of not knowing takes a tremendous toll.   Cost of procrastination:  Money, stress.

Business Costs:  A 2012 CNBC post identified the cost of procrastination in business as being a staggering $10,396 . . . . per employee . . . per year.  Wow!  The article referred to procrastination as “the most invisible cost in business today.”  I don’t doubt it.  When I worked in Corporate America,  I surely procrastinated a bit on projects that I knew needed to get done, but I just didn’t feel motivated to do.  Mostly the procrastinated projects had open-ended completion dates, but they were necessary, and the benefit to the company had I completed them in a timely manner would have been significant.  Why did I procrastinate?  Generally, I felt I didn’t know enough about the project to get started; didn’t feel I had the appropriate resources to get the project completed; or just found other stuff that was more fun to do.  Cost of procrastination:  Money, Credibility, Possible Promotion

Insurance:  I just updated my business insurance a few months ago.  Before I renewed in 2013 I committed to shopping my insurance needs around a bit.  Well, I procrastinated that project and didn’t do it, letting my carrier renew me for the next 12 months without a second thought.  This year I received five proposals covering my current business insurance needs.  The result?  A 40% reduction in cost for the same coverage.  It sickens me to think of what I might have been able to do with that money had I gone through the process in 2013.   I should have taken the time to ensure that my coverage was complete and the best value available.   The same goes for renewing any kind of insurance:  auto, home, personal liability, health, etc.  I worked with a client several years ago that hadn’t done a detailed review of their business auto insurance in several years.  After my analysis of their coverage, it was determined that two of their vehicles hadn’t been included in the policy.  Can you image the cost had there been an accident with one of those vehicles?   Frightening.   Cost of procrastination:  Money, Peace of Mind, Liability

Well, that concludes my top 10 list of areas where we shouldn’t procrastinate and the costs if we do.  I hope some of them resonate with you, as they did with me as I was preparing to write about them.   We all have so much to do that sometimes things just have to be put aside for a while.  And that’s okay.  As long as “a while” doesn’t turn into “forever” and we cost ourselves and our loved ones undue financial hardship and stress.

“Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time, sometimes to the “last minute” before the deadline. (Wikipedia)”

Cindy Jobs

Organize to Simplify RGB www.organizetosimplify.com

Member Color - WebNational Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter President
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