Business Lessons From Mexico – Make Time For Family

This is the third post in my Business Lessons from Mexico series.  If you haven’t already done so, please go back and read the first and second posts on “Do One Thing Well” and “Make Sure You’re Protected” for additional context.

One area I personally struggle with, and am always striving to do better with, is making time for family.  Because I enjoy my work, I often find that I’ll try to grab an extra hour here, an additional 15 minutes there, and before I realize it’s time for bed.

This last trip to Mexico, I was unable to get phone or internet service on the beach.  The most advanced technology we used was an iPod to jam out while playing sequence on the beach and playing fart games with unsuspecting visitors.

My wife had the incredible idea to buy a little remote-controlled whoopee cushion.  You take the portion with the speaker and hide it somewhere and then use a remote which looks like a car keychain remote.  Whenever the remote is pressed you get a random and realistic fart sound from the other end.  As juvenile as it sounds, eventually EVERYONE was playing with the little machine.

From little chuckles to long, loud barrel laughs, everyone loved it!  Eventually, once everyone in our little camp had been tricked into believing that the person sitting next to them had no respect for anyone, we had to move on to the neighbors.  They would come over to visit, be invited to the kitchen where grandma would proceed to test their patience.

I don’t think I’ve laughed so much or so hard in a very long time!  The impacts of this 4 day break in Mexico has had on me personally are pretty amazing.  I came back to the United States and have been  hard at work, but things are flowing so naturally.

I don’t find that I’m distracted by Twitter and Facebook as much as I was before I left.  I’m able to whip out blog posts at record speed and I feel I can focus on the things that are most important.  I was able to move a couple of my personal projects forward by leaps and bounds in a matter of days.

I owe this to my family as they have ensured that in spite of a long list of to-dos waiting I always set aside some time with family to be able to recharge and keep from burning out.

Make sure you set aside time to recharge!

The Cost of Being Late

Most of us feel that it’s important to be on time for work, school and other engagements, but there are some people that have a hard time making it all work.  Since the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result” I thought it might be useful to shed some light on something more tangible with regard to being late, the cost. 

I believe that if you can actually see the costs associated with tardiness it might be a stronger motivation for making some minor life-hacks to become a timelier person. 

Travel

Being late when travelling can be extremely expensive.  Imagine that you’re headed to the airport and are running late for your flight.  You’ll be tempted to drive like you’re in the Indy 500 to make sure you make your flight.  If you’re lucky enough not to get a speeding ticket you’ll probably have to park in the closer hourly section once you arrive.  Additionally, if you miss your flight you could have to pay additional fees for rescheduling or moving other connecting flights.  It can definitely create a huge mess.

Finances

The effects of tardiness with your finances are typically pretty obvious, but it wouldn’t be right for me to leave them out.  Not only do most companies charge you for being late, but one of the worst cases is that many credit cards will increase your interest rate on top of charging you late fees.  It pays to make sure your finances are addressed in a timely manner.

Work

Aside from the fact that you might be fired if you’re frequently late for work, managers are less likely to promote someone who is frequently late.  Many employers will track your tardiness over a period of time and may eventually terminate you for it.  You might be lucky enough to  scoot by for a time, but eventually it will catch up with you.

Personal

As if the items above aren’t terrible enough, you should also keep in mind the personal costs.  First, it can create added stress for you and the people around you.  Second, it begins to eat at your reputation.  People that are chronically late are typically viewed as having less integrity that their timely peers.  Remember that you are what other people think you are so guard your reputation!

Late Personality Types

Dr.  DeLonzor, the author of “Never Be Late Again”, knows her subject, because she was once chronically late, too.  She places the chronically late into seven categories:

The rationalizer has a hard time acknowledging responsibility for lateness and tends to blame outside circumstances.

The producer wants to squeeze as much into every minute as possible; they are always busy.

The deadliner subconsciously enjoys the last-minute sprint to the finish line; they feel more alive when running out of time.

The indulger exercises less self-control; tends to procrastinate.

The rebel resists authority and everyday rules; might run late as a form of control.

The absent-minded professor is easily distracted, forgetful and caught up in their own introspection.

The evader feels anxiety about his or her environment and tries to control it; their own needs or routine come before being on time.

Ways to decrease chances of tardiness

Keeping the personality types above in mind in would require much more space to delve into many suggestions for how to alter your life, but I would be pretty rude to sit here and whine about people being late without providing some suggestions for how to make it better.  

·         Don’t check e-mail / voicemail right before you need to leave – This one is pretty simple, but many people still want to check their messages near their exit time.  If you’re leaving in the next hour avoid checking.

·         Set your clocks ahead by random amounts – If you can set 3 or 4 clocks ahead by 5 to 15 minutes each you’ll always leave early.  After a while you’ll learn what the “real” time is and that’s your signal to readjust the clocks again. 

·         Fill your gas at ¼ tank –If you’re having issues being on time then you don’t want to risk needing to fill up on the way to an important appointment.  If you make sure to fill up every time you reach a ¼ tank of gas you’ll never have this happen to you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.  Please leave your comments and ideas for other ways that we pay for being late.

Are e-mail gremlins trying to ruin your career?

How many times throughout the day do you find that you're spending more time tending to your e-mail than actually getting your daily work done?  Lately I've found that I’m spread too thin across many tasks and that e-mail has turned into an anti-productivity tool.  Here are a few tips for reclaiming your precious time. 

Turn off notifications

Normally,  I see the little outlook message notification in my toolbar or the preview notice window, hear the evil little new message chime or my cell phone  beeping to kindly remind me that I'm not giving it enough attention.  This happens to me about 300 times each day.  I know that I'm not special and there are many of you out there that see these even more frequently.  I recommend turning these reminders off completely, which will ensure that during times when you're being productive you aren't continually distracted with issues that will pull you off task. 

Set pre-defined times for reading e-mails

After you've turned off the notifications you should set one or more specific times during the day to jump into your preferred e-mail client and begin knocking away at all of those little electronic monsters.  During these times, your goal should be to pick off the easy ones.  If the message only requires a few lines of response then don't hesitate shoot back a response and get it out of your inbox. 

If you prefer phone contact setup an auto-responder

Many people still prefer to use phone as their primary form of contact.  If you happen to be one of these people then it might be a good idea for you to setup an auto-responder in your e-mail client letting people know that it might take a while for you to get back to them via e-mail, but they can quickly contact you by phone.  Doing this will help them immediately understand your preferences.  This will help to ensure that they don’t get upset while having to wait for your response. 

Don’t use email as instant messenger / text messaging

It may be perfectly reasonable to assume that you can send one of your IM buddies a message that says "plz git meh sum coffeee", but how would you feed if a prospective employer or customer was to read it?  There are many e-mails I've seen that have glaring spelling issues or poor grammar.  While it is mildly annoying to me, there are some people that actually take offence to e-mails where it is obvious that the writer did not care enough about the content to spend a few extra seconds doing a spelling and grammar check on their e-mail.   

If you’re asking a question, place it first and add supporting details afterward

Following this simple rule will not only make things easier for the recipients of your e-mails, but it will ensure that your questions are answered promptly.  Simply start your e-mail with the questions you have and add any supporting information afterward.     

Keep on topic

Many times it is very difficult to try to find a certain topic or block of text in my e-mail box.  You can make this easier by keeping the subjects of your replies up to date.  If the subject of the e-mail is no longer relevant to the body you should update the subject of the message.    

Take another look before you send

I love email. It's much less intrusive than a phone call and faster than a letter. It may be your introduction to someone you never met before. Take your time putting together a well-written message. Once you hit the send button you won't have another chance.