Category: Process Improvement

Building A Better You

When you build something, whether it is a course, a book, or a couch, you are making something for another person. Aren’t you? And when you sell it to whoever is going to buy it, aren’t you dealing with a person? It may sound strange, yet this is something important we need to remember.

These days when we rarely meet people face to face in an everyday setting, it is easy to forget the customers are real people. Sometimes, as sales increase and numbers grow, everything looks like a spreadsheet. We need to remember that a person is striving to do something behind every number, striving to be better.

We often get embarrassed or shy around others, and to overcome that, sometimes we pay more attention to the representations than we do to the natural person. We need to pay attention. It is important to remember that whoever uses the thing you made is more like you than any object ever made. Both of you have dreams, hopes, and desires. You both are working to become something better in life.

If you think of that client as a person just like you, they will get more out of whatever you make for them, and so will you.

What have you made lately? Has it helped anyone? How has what you made for someone else help you?

Excuses

We all make excuses now and then for things we really don’t want to do. Is it a form of procrastination? You bet. Yep, we look at it as our given right to not do those things we don’t want to.

We need to realize that most of the things we excuse ourselves from are the things that we need to do to make our lives better. Also, the things we try to ditch must be done sooner or later anyway.

When we prolong actions from being completed, they don’t go away. These undone actions tend to hang around and do whatever they can to pester us or even cost us. We might as well go ahead and take care of them upfront.

What do you have that has been pestering you lately?

No

Being able to say no is a key talent to have. The better someone is, the more the rest of the world will want to lean on that person and have them do the work. It turns out this work is often free or pro bono. We all like to help, myself included, and yet there is a time when we have to be accountable to ourselves for where we are in life and what we have to earn to sustain ourselves and our families.

Having to tell someone no often hurts me more than the person who asked in the first place. I do like to help people. I am always open to a new venture. And I want to get out and work with people. I have learned that finding myself into so many things and so far over my head with different work, it was hard to see the light of day. Saying no and finding a way to make the other person feel good about it was very hard for me to do. Today, if I can help someone and still accomplish my goals, I will do so. Yet, there is a hierarchy I need to remember of who I have to take care of first before I have the luxury of reaching out and helping others.

Have you ever found yourself with too much work to accomplish because you’re helping others? How do you handle it?

Time to Organize

We rarely have the privilege to make a drastic change and reorganize to build a better plane upon which to work. One such chance is when you purchase a new device. It is a time when we can take all those files and documents that always seemed to be pushed helter-skelter in our hurry to get things done and realign them in proper locations with proper headings. And although it will take a tiny percentage of time to do this, getting it right to start with allows us an enormous amount of saved time as we press forward with our work.

We should consider taking time to sit down and understand where we’re going, and what we’re not going to need, and most importantly, the legacy documents that will be important to us down the line. I am undergoing this test now, hoping that any work of this sort will be made more accessible in the future. Of course, I wish I would have done this the last time I got the new device.

Have you ever been fortunate enough to take advantage of a new device to reorganize Anne reset up your files?

Waiting Too Long

Some human traits are better than others, and with some, you really have to watch out.  One of my worst traits is procrastination. I have studied and taught procrastination to others, yet I still often wait until the last minute.

If I started early, would I do better? Most probably so. If I did not have so many different ideas going on, would the fewer things I did turn out better? Maybe. If I were more organized, could I keep more control over everything I am trying to do? Good question.

Different people view the same situation in many different ways. A lot depends on their knowledge, where they have come from, and what they have been a part of. Because of this, the answers will be different for different people. There is no one size fits all within our universe. To make up for this, we each need to look at our situation and figure out what we should do to make things better.

Want help? Leave me a message.

Brain Block

I had a terrible time yesterday trying to get things done. It seems that sometimes the more I work at something, the less productive I am. Yet I notice another time when I feel squeezed for time; ideas tend to just flow with ease and no problems whatsoever.

What this type of problem causes me is a need for last-minute rushes. When I had initially had time set out to do the job efficiently, not worrying about deadlines.  I’d much rather leave the stress and anxiety of at the last minute work behind and execute plans under better control. Unfortunately, to say that I’m getting 50% of this would be generous.

I’m not really sure why my mind likes to play these tricks on me. I seem to get the majority of everything done by the due date. I just miss the date that I wanted to have it prepared by.

I know that imagination is actually the mind at play; Albert Einstein taught us that. I just think that sometimes when my mind plays these tricks on me, there is a somewhat malevolent action behind it. I keep asking myself what I may have done to my mind to cause it to work like this on me?

Have you ever worked to get something accomplished and ended up with a brain block?

Process Control

I am tired of needing to fight so hard for each thing I accomplish. If it is not the computer acting up and taking out half my day while I fix it, it is the shock that something or someone has been billing me for something that I did not know I owed. It seems as though every workday brings a new surprise in a new adventure. I like good surprises and fun adventures, but I’m out to curtail what I have been facing lately.

A Wise person informed me that I need to control and manage my systems and my processes as a business. It was pointed out that any company is not about driving people. It is about controlling and managing systems and processes. Business is made of systems and processes which will work every time, just as the time before if we are managing them right.

My new goal is to verify each of my processes and ensure each of the systems has viable processes needed in place. If I can do this, I can see how I could save half the time or more by not having to chase my tail everywhere as various problems reoccur.

If you find yourself surprised in your day-to-day business, and it happens regularly, please consider joining me in a process overhaul of your systems.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

New Group Sessions

Today, I scheduled my first Meetup group session. My Meetup group sessions, called “Getting Jobs and Not Being Overlooked.” The group sessions help individuals who are looking for work and, unfortunately, feel they are being overlooked for the jobs they want. And, no, I do not think they are paranoid. It actually happens every day.

There are many things that employers worry about when they hire somebody, especially somebody who is a little longer in the tooth. And according to statistics, employers are correct to worry about it. However, you are a person and not just a set of statistics. As long as you can show you are a viable person able to do the job, you can have as good a chance as anyone else.

The first meeting is next Tuesday, the 19th of January, at 2:30 MST on zoom. We will discuss tactics and techniques for getting jobs in detail. The how to’s of present the right ‘front and center’ attitude at the interview. You will help the employer know that you are not the dawdling old-timer. Instead, you are the sharp, mature worker they are actually looking to hire.

These group sessions will run every Tuesday from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. MST and are free for at least the first four sessions that a person attends. The regular price is $25, yet for the rest of this year, because of the problems with COVID-19 and finding work, I will hold the cost down to only $10 per visit. Please sign up through “Getting Jobs and Not Being Overlooked.” On Meetup

Please ask, If you have any questions, by writing to mikebalof@reveille.rocks.  Also, feel free to ask me through Meetup. I would be glad to help you better understand any particular concerns. If you know anyone else who could benefit from such a group session, please let them know that we are out there and willing to work with them.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Have You Started

We are six days into the new year. Are you working on the new you? Are you finding ways to make your life more productive, happier, or more meaningful to you? If you are working on it, great. If not, I hope it’s because you already have everything you need and everything you have ever desired. If you are delighted and want for nothing, you should not change. You live the life that the rest of us genuinely envy.

If you were not quite that fortunate, then I have to ask a question. What do you find missing from your life? If you’re not as portrayed in the paragraph above, obviously, something is missing. At this point, there seem to be two choices. One is just sitting there and pouting, blame everybody else, and just be miserable. The other option is to get out there and do something about it. So the question stands.  If you don’t have everything you want, why not, and what do you do about it.

I’m not trying to push everybody into a greed fest. I’m just asking a question. If you want something you don’t have, is it because you really don’t need it or care about it, or is it that you’re just not trying hard enough?

Often, it boils down to priorities. With so many things we could have within the world, we have to choose what is most important at the moment. And that is a sage thing to do. And if that’s what you have to do and where you are, it is absolutely OK.

On the other hand, if your lack of something is caused by your ‘get up and go’ having ‘got up and went.’ That is another matter. Suppose you’re not getting what you want out of life because you find yourself stuck in a rut and just not able to actively pursue your needs. In that case, you are at the point you need to find yourself a new direction and some energy to follow it.

If you find yourself stuck, without the energy, or unable to find the right direction, I am here for you. Starting on Tuesday, 19 January, at 3 p.m. Mountain standard time, I will be hosting a group session for people to share where they are. Also, where they want to go and ask for sharing ideas and ways to get there.

For anybody who wants to join, I will make the first month free. After the first month, the fee goes to $10 a week. When my website publishes in the next week or so, you will also find discount coupons for other assistance which I offer.

Please keep an eye out for this blog, and I will keep you informed on what is going on within Reveille.Rocks, and hopefully, you will find some items which will be of great use for you.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

It Is New, Now What?

Welcome to day five of our new year. And congratulations on making it here. Now the question is, what are you going to do?

I’m not talking about the facade of goals, which will be gone in a few months. I am not worried about what you want to be 10 years from now. What I’m asking is, now that you are in the new year and the year you hate is now behind you, what are you going to do.

I grant everyone the fact that last year was horrible. The year was one problem after another building to one calamity after another. But you have made it through, and here you are. You own a new year, a new day, and hopefully a better way.

Yes, I know the date on the calendar did not change the status of things on the ground. That is not the point, though. The fact is you drew a line in the sand to get a new year. Now you have it. If you do nothing to make this year better, you just have what you had before. If you do better in your life and your situations, you will have better outcomes.

Does this mean hard work? When did getting what you wanted out of life not mean hard work, planning, and a fair share of elbow grease and midnight oil? The nice thing is whether you know it or not, you can do this. Can I do it for you? No. Can your parents or kids do it for you? Absolutely not. Every time you look at a smiling CEO, a farm doing well, or a plumber happily doing the job, you see people doing the things they love. They are there because they took the time to learn and grow within their careers and professions. 

You have come this far. Do not give up on yourself now. You are in a new year, and you are closer to the cusp of getting what you want than you were a year ago. It’s time to forge forward, not backslide.

I tell you these things for the good of all of us. When someone succeeds, we all raise just a little; and when we fail to try, everyone else sinks just a bit. It’s not that I’m worried about everyone being let down. I just don’t want you to be back here a year from now asking the same questions about what happened.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.