Wordless Wednesday: SUCCESS: Turning Disorder into Organized Chaos - Diary of the Procrastinating Psychotic Perfectionist

Happy NEW YEAR! - Turning Disorder into Organized Chaos - Diary of the Procrastinating Psychotic Perfectionist

Well past the point of declaring customary resolutions and setting unrealistic goals, I have instead resorted to public humiliation and embarrassment, to tackle the task of organizing my office and preparing my businesses for a year of growth and success.

It's been two weeks since I dragged my husband away from his work during our first snow day of the year, to help me finish putting together my new office furniture.

I have since scrubbed, disinfected, dusted, donated, folded, vacuumed the contents of the entire house and shopped to my heart's content all in the futile attempt of avoiding that which I don't want to do, while convincing myself of how otherwise productive I have been.

The shag lime green carpet that I squealed with glee over when I first found it on sale at Ikea, is still in its packaging leaning against the couch in my living room...

The retro acrylic clear office chair is incognito next to it - doing exactly what I had hoped it would do in my office - that is, take up as little room as possible and completely blend in to its surroundings thus allowing the space it occupies to remain open and wide - all while being comfortable and ergonomic...

It is so invisible in my living room while awaiting its move to the under construction office, that I have banged myself into it while walking past it a dozen times...

But my bruises have, until this point, not been enough to make me go into the room and just get it over with - file the receipts, organize the paper, order and prepare my packaging, hang, staple, move - and why not you say?

Because it has to be perfect... not just sorted or stacked, but perfect...

My endless pursuit of perfection has led to this state, because my husband couldn't wait for me to clean and move as I went, instead he said,

"Just throw everything together and get this furniture where it needs to be! Then you can go back and fix it..."

Or this morning's suggestion, "just quickly file everything in large categories and later on go back and file it in the right slots"...

Later on?

Later on?

WHEN?!

WHEN will there be time later on to file and hang and staple and create and create and create?

Instead I'm blogging about the psychotic episode that has led me to procrastinate the creation of my perfect office...

So my dear readers, here I am in this new year confessing and professing my intention to tackle procrastination this year.

I will publish this post today and tackle that which has caused me bodily harm and sleepless nights, I will clean my office TODAY or die trying.... or hey, I can alphabetize my kitchen cabinets, steam-clean my basement floor, paint the ceiling of the entire house, seal the kitchen tile...

Concerned Customer Complaint: Letter to the Dealership OWNER: "Your Bathroom is an Out House."

WARNING:
Dearest Readers:

Please stop here if you are offended by "foul" language.

If you need a smile and choose to continue to read, please note the following:

• NO. In support of my mortified mother, my mother did NOT raise me to talk like this.

• YES. I DID - I REALLY DID send this to the OWNER of the franchise. (Haven't you ever really wanted to complain about something that made you feel uncomfortable but you were too embarrassed to explain it the only way that could truly illustrate your annoyance!?)

• The names of the accused have been withheld (Come on! I'm not THAT evil. BUT if I go back next time and it hasn't been resolved, stay tuned - 'cause I'll even post a MAP of the location!)

• I waited until I got to the HOME DEPOT to go to the bathroom almost THREE HOURS after I initially arrived at the dealership - ladies, THAT'S how bad it was!

• YES. I got a prompt reply. Mortified apology. Commitment to discuss at length during their weekly Management Meeting. (Laughing uncontrollably! Imagine THAT conversation!) And a commitment to rectify the situation.

• YES. I am personally familiar with the "condition" that I am referring to - I am proud NOT to be a Nun :o)

THE LETTER - (This letter has been modified from it's original version. The original letter was written with my Blackberry, and let's face it, we're still a ways from publishing "Pulitzer" material by thumbs!)


Dear Madam,

I hope this finds you well. I am currently sitting in your Service Waiting Area as my car is being serviced, and I couldn't help reaching out to you in my disappointment.

I purchased my vehicle from your dealership last August and my fiance purchased another this January.

We had hoped that this would be the start of a "breath-taking" relationship!

This is the second time I've brought my car in for routine service - about my 6th visit to your showroom.

At each visit, I have complained to our salesman, the Sales Manager who turned bright shades of red even through his dark skin tone, as well as the young women at the cashier's desk.

Each time, I've been assured that my complaint would be addressed before my next visit and six times later, I'm STILL completely disgusted!
I am disgusted at the Ladies Bathroom!

The first time my fiance and I both left the adjoining bathrooms we looked each other and said
"it smells like sweaty testicles!". (The language wasn't quite as P.C.)

Perhaps it is just a confirmation of our belief that we are soul mates that we both cried,
"SWEATY BALLS!" out in unison!


Alas, as I have learned in my previous FIVE complaints to members of your staff, I am not the first or several dozen-th person to bring the "sweaty balls"- stench and unwelcoming bathroom to the attention of members of your management.

In fact, on several of those occasions, along with fits of laughter at my bluntness, I have been encouraged by the management to share my frank review to other members of your staff who exclaimed,

"EXACTLY!

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE!"

Although I am proud to have been accepted as one of your sweaty guys in the dealership-locker-room, that is not the response you should be proud of!

I am also a woman business owner and I am appalled that a business owned proudly by such successful women would allow what, as a woman, you'd understand, more than anything else - that the condition of your bathroom, is an indication of the service one would expect in your establishment!

As I look around in the showroom at 3:09pm, there are only TWO male customers and EIGHT women and even a child!

I would be mortified to let MY child in that bathroom!

You should be ashamed!

Where's the Clorox?
Febreze?

Perhaps a Reed Diffuser or two?!

While I'm at it, the stalls don't even have a hook or shelf to place a purse or jacket!

Completely disgraceful!

I am hoping that by reaching out to you, that FINALLY my complaints will be heard and something will be done!

I hope to hear from you soon and that action will be taken to make visiting the "water closet" in your establishment fair better than an "out house!"

(hoping for some fresh air)

siempre - dorana


UPDATE: Yoda had his oil changed last week and excitedly reported:


"There's a pretty plant in the bathroom! And there's new air fresheners!


Now it smells like SWEATY BALLS WITH PERFUME!"




I think I might have to post that map...

Time Management - Can You Achieve Work/Life Balance?

I sat in a convention a couple of years ago and watched a gray haired man with thin rimmed glasses, a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt with red flowers and a bright green blazer nearing his eighties jump in front of the room and claim that every morning by 10AM, that he had done more in his business and made his family smile more than most of us in the room would accomplish by 6PM. I remember sitting there mesmerized by his energy and drive, and determination. He had reached success and fortune a million times over and had no sights of letting up on his life's work and unlike some other rich and successful men and women I have met, was still full of life and genuinely happy.

My grandmother calls me sometimes during the day knowing that I'll be immersed in my work and say, "There are 24 hours in a day, Dori. Eight for sleeping, eight for working, eight for friends and family..."

Bob reiterated those sentiments at that convention when he started talking about the key to his success. It wasn't a genius marketing idea or the best computer software program, it wasn't flashy brochures or business cards or the best graphic designs... it was his daily schedule.

Every night before he went to bed he would detail the following day first broken down into six hour increments and then to three, then to two, then to one hour and then into fifteen minute blocks. His jolly face looked up at us in the room so quiet that you could hear a pin drop! And then it lit up unexpectedly with his jolly laughter as he tauntingly said "first my dears, start with the SIX HOUR BLOCKS!"

We all giggled and listened as he explained how managing a detailed schedule and following it created a life of balance and expectations for both his business and his family. When he was working, he was working and wasn't feeling guilty about not being with his family and when he was with his family, he wasn't worried about work. There was a time for everything and everything had it's time.

He then detailed every hour for us to try to explain how much time we truly have each day. He described his first 6 hour block of time beginning at 6AM with his morning routine, how he first takes time for himself every morning - for his body and mind.

How often we go through the day neglecting how important the health of our body and minds are!

His hour on the treadmill while he listened to his favorite classical melodies or read a favorite book; the luxurious shower and the joy he took making his children breakfast in the morning and hearing about the schedule of their lives each morning!

The next four hours until lunch were impeccably detailed: calls, meetings, reports, call and wish the wife a good morning and wonderful day! Imagine scheduling daily calls to tell someone you love them! What could possibly be a better use of your time!?

I remember sitting there as he painted a ticking clock portrait of his day and how each task brought him closer to that final "tock" at 6PM where he shifted from work to home and family and friends!

GENIUS!

If that wasn't impressive enough, there was a detailed weekly account of chores and shopping, family activities, dates with friends and extended family... Every aspect of his life, business and family was given importance.

He had a lifetime of joy because he gave everything and everyone the importance of his time. His wife and children expected him to be working when he was at work and home when he was at home.

In building his business of course there were disappointments and not everything always went as planned but there WAS A PLAN!

I know that in my perfect fantasy world, there is this magical place where my business and personal life somehow create a wonderful balance.

Could we all find this mystical place and that infectious joy I witnessed in that man by merely planning out the details of each of our days? Planning the time for our walks to the park with our favorite four-legged friend, making lunch dates with our children once a week at their schools, a date with our spouse where we dress up in our "first date finest" and anticipate that long kiss at the end of the night - all while climbing that business ladder of success??

I hope you take out that day planner - seriously I know everyone has one that's collecting dust somewhere - and "first my dears, start with the SIX HOUR BLOCKS!"

Are you BUSY or PRODUCTIVE?

I hope you are all sharing in this gorgeous fall day and that it is filled with sunshine and smiles! I'd like to take some time today to thank everyone for all of their wonderful feedback and support of my new blog! I've had some truly great convos, emails, and comments and I am very appreciative!

I would love to take all the credit, but I definitely could not have created such a uniquely me space without the patiently talented Kristen at wildmagic.etsy.com. Please take a second to check out her shoppe and wonderful graphics and designs!

I had the images and the vision of what I was hoping it would look like, but without Kristen's help it would have taken me weeks of playing with HTML code and let's face it - I'm a writer and an artist - I do not need to be a master of all trades! (I'm still convincing myself of this...)

I am a financial wellness and wealth coach by day and I constantly find myself at my client's kitchen tables coaching them not to engage in tasks that will not net them their hourly rate of desired pay!

In business, you need to spend 90% of your time in productive activities that will create either more productivity or increase your income. It is my nature to obsess over "details". If I had committed myself to creating my new blog or recreating my mySpace page to the exact specifications that I wanted myself, I would have obsessed about it for weeks not days - and even when I would have achieved the desired look, I know that I would have continued to play having had reset my work schedule to include HTML coding!

Don't get me wrong - I did start playing with it on my own for about two hours that day, but I was able to snap out of it once I realized that half my work morning had flown by and I had accomplished nothing. One of my favorite business quotes, "Are you busy or productive?"

At the end of the day feeling drained by hours of tasking only to find that I really hadn't accomplished anything I set out to do, I decided to stop the insanity!

So I quickly logged out of mySpace and blogspot and contacted Kristen and sent her the images I was interested in using, the overall feel I was hoping for, got a quote, and set to work on the projects with someone who knew what she was doing! It was economical, productive and the net effect was a week of marketing and creating that I wouldn't have had had I done it on my own!

What it cost me to hire someone to do it was a mere fraction of MY cost per hour of my own production time! In simpler terms, I was able to produce and create in that time MORE than what it cost me for someone else to do the task...

As I write this I remember that I learned this years ago! When I started college, I was a full-time student and worked full-time in a restaurant but still lived at home. I would get home at 2am from work sometimes completely exhausted to my mother's fussing at me for forgetting to do the dishes or not cleaning the bathroom or leaving laundry in the washer...

After about a week of the ridiculousness - regardless how much I wanted to yell, "Are you kidding me?! I'm never home," I picked up the classifieds and hired a wonderful woman named Terry for $50.00/week to dust, sweep, mop, clean the bathrooms, scrub the kitchen... It was worth it to me to spend half a night's income to pacify my mother at home and give me peace the little time I was home...

Just because you're in business for yourself doesn't mean that you have to do every part of the business.

• Figure out what you're good at, the activities that bring you the best results and then STICK TO THAT PLAN for at least 4-6 weeks! You're not going to be able to measure the results of an activity if you change it every time you hear something new! Pick a few projects to start off with and go from there.

• Set a SCHEDULE and stick to it!

• Hire out your weakness and/or get help with administrative tasks
  

Working for yourself is the most rewarding job you can have, but you'll never work harder! I have learned a lot about entrepreneurship... anyone that works hard at anything for ten years will be successful in it - just make sure you're doing something you love - because it will still be work ten years from now if it isn't.