No one loves a bureaucrat!

Feeling very honourable once I noticed my library book was due yesterday I added "drop book" to my list of after dinner rounds which included "take carrots for visiting with Slipper, my donkey buddy, then hike with dogs."  Not wishing to be weighted down with a purse we simply traveled light and hopped into my Jeep.

When I arrived at our library (a beautiful, new library in downtown Vernon) I was delighted to find it was still open.  I thought myself so smart that now I could also check out another book!  Arriving at the counter I asked the gal there if my return slip I'd used as a bookmark would suffice as my check out number as I was without my library card.  Alas, no.  She was genuinely sorry and perked up to say that my driver's license would do.  Ahem....I don't have that either.  She again was genuinely sorry not to allow me to take the book.  I looked honest enough in my shorts, and non matching top especially donned with animal drool in mind -- and with the surplus carrot sticking out of the pocket! I put the book away.

Never passing a biffy I didn't like I made a detour and had another thought.  I returned to the check out and asked, "how about my vehicle registration papers?"  "Yes!" she happily replied.  Out to my Jeep I went assuring my hounds that our walk would commence before they knew it.

Over a moment of shared victory with the librarian I successfully left with book under arm!

What was most delightful was that she was SO happy to find a win.  Odds were good she could have looked down her nose at me in my barn-ish attire and officiously lectured me on the library policy of lending.  But she didn't!  I should have gotten her name to include it in my story.  You, dear gal who was helping me at the library shortly before 7 pm on August 30th, thank you!!!

As professionals how refreshing it is to lend service creatively!  No one loves a bureaucrat!  While we all have rules and procedures (Lord knows we're steeped in law and contracts in Real Estate) the best person is the most creative with how to create a win within the limitations of rules!

When in doubt take it as a personal challenge to find, in the words of my buddy, Don, an "elegant solution" to any dilemma big or small!

Too busy for life?

One of my colleagues in the office commented to me last week that a relative of hers was "too busy" to let her know of some serious family news from afar.  This news would impact my friend's children and travel. 

REALLY???  You're too busy to send a 60 second e-mail?  Too busy to send a 20 second text?  Too busy to leave a voice mail?  What bunk!

We all have occasions when someone says, "oh, I was thinking of you....we should do something....but I've been SO busy!"  Busy apparently with things far more important that nurturing relationships and family.  REALLY???

I am intrigued by how the notion got lodged in North American heads that being busy was somehow equated with being worthwhile or valued.  When did "getting ahead" become a nobler goal than bonding and having valuable time to visit and play and putter together?  And once you are ahead, are you ever far enough ahead?  And if you're far enough ahead I guess you're alone.  Everyone else got tired of playing second fiddle to your always putting work ahead of them.

Why is enough never enough so the chase for more -- more money, more deals, more anything -- relentless?  From what I understand when wild animals are sated they let prey walk right by unharmed.  They are full, why would they tackle another hunt until they are in need of more sustenance?  And they say mankind is the crowning creation??

I confessed to a friend that when someone comes into work on Monday after a picture perfect Okanagan weekend bragging about how busy they were working all weekend that the thought that occurs to me is that they're not very bright.  I rather admire the one that comes in with tales of playing in the lake or hiking in the hills.  To be perfectly frank when someone says to me "I am SO BUSY," in my mind it translate to "I am SO misguided."

As an aside there is a real estate trainer who encourages Realtors to sign off "I'm never too busy for your referrals!"  Ha!  They might be too busy to have coffee with you, but never too busy for more work!  But I digress...

Of course we all have times of intensity in our work and lives; situational busyness is not what I'm speaking about.  Its the chronically busy ones that I worry about.  We all have those people who can never sit still long enough to really listen to anyone talk who isn't talking about work.  Don't you feel special when someone is reading a text while half listening to you?  Warms the heart, eh?  How about the friends that are too busy to even acknowledge the invitation to come share a meal?  REALLY???  Someone invites you to their home and you can't take a moment to even reply?

Could it be that "being busy" is an addiction?  Perhaps the litmus test would be that if the thought of open space unfilled by busy work sends a shiver of fear down your spine it might be time for an intervention.

Interventions come in the form of lunches with cell phones off and walks in the neighbourhood with time to say hello and visit.  Interventions come in the form of building sandcastles with children and riding that horse that's become a pasture ornament.  Intervention comes in the form of coffees with meaningful conversations with family and friends.  It comes in taking the time to write a note or make a call when you're thinking of someone.  It comes in the form of taking care of your health and stimulating your mind with new ideas.  Intervention comes with first questioning why being busy has been given a place of honour above living a balanced and fun filled life.

For the record, one of my favourite activities is spending time with past clients who have become friends.  I will sign off by saying, "I'm never too busy for YOU!"

 

The high cost of cheapness

Watching t.v. the other day I was listening to an ad about foam mattresses.  The discount mattress centre was bashing a name brand memory foam company about price and boasting that their 10" foam mattress was way cheaper.  "Aha!" thought I, but are we talking about the same product.  My limited knowledge of foam mattresses is that you are looking not just for thickness but density.  In other words you can say you have 10" but the support and quality of the foam is really different.

If I convey nothing else to you over the course of the blogs I post let me emphasis this:  ALWAYS look for value.  Because something costs less does not translate to better value -- and it's often just the opposite.

You can whine about paying over 100 dollars for a pair of sandals at a good shoe store when you can get a pair at Wal Mart for 10 dollars.  But ask yourself this.  Which will last 10 times longer and which will (and most importantly) give your feet the support they deserve so that your feet serve you well all of your life?

Price is the lowest common denominator of goods and services.  If you want to drain the community of knowledgeable people in every place from hardware stores to furniture, shoes and even food -- just keep buying the cheapest items at self service outlets.

The term value has many dimensions from immediate, long term value to you to the long term value in the world you help support: pride in workmanship, pride in service, pride in professionalism and pride in community.

The high cost of the cheapest route when all is said and done is far more expensive than any of us can afford.

Exercise, musing, relaxing vital to success!

Someone reading this post will remember which inventor spent an hour every day on the shore line of the beach doodling -- for all watching apparently doing nothing but drawing and making channels with a stick in the sand.  What he was doing, of course, was taking time to let his mind wander where it wanted to go.  (Whoever knows shout out!)

It is my experience and hypothesis that without enough time to let the mind relax and wander it is impossible to come up with authentic and strategic ideas.  Great ideas for marketing to socializing to who to reconnect with come unbidden during long, silent walks; time spent simply sitting and watching nature; stretching out on a hammock looking up through the trees....

So often people get caught in a near frantic cycle of "trying" to produce original, creative work.  Its easy to get so busy you are only reacting and not actually thinking!

If you don't already, take my theory for a test run!  Take time every day to simply have no agenda other than to muse and see what grand new ideas for life and work appear when you least expect them!

And, what a great way to explain an afternoon's hammock session:  "I was busy in a "creative marketing" session!

Treat the luxury of unscheduled time and space with the fine respect it so deserves and enjoy the rich benefits!

Skipping 1 fast food meal per month = dream home

Sometimes in contract negotiations the seller and buyer are relatively close to an agreement when both parties dig in their heels.

For sake of example, let's say the buyer has come up to 400,000 to purchase a home, but the seller will not budge for less than 410,000.  Doing a quick calculation, financing the different amounts over 25 years at 4%, the higher price will result in approximately $50 per month more.

I'm also estimating that a small family going to McDonald's once a month would spend about $50.00.  So, if this is in fact someones dream home, a better question than looking at 10,000 as a hardship would be to consider it as a small sacrifice over time.  Skipping 1 fast food meal with your family each month could equate to your family living and loving in your dream home.

While I would never encourage a buyer to pay too much for any property, perspective is often a helpful tool to measure the real day to day impact of paying a bit more for a home.

What happens sometimes when a buyer walks away from their dream home over a relatively small amount is that all other properties are stacked up against "the one that got away."  And on occasion when a buyer decides to go ahead and pay the 10,000 more they face possible heartache at hearing "their home" has sold to someone else.

In the long run, trust me when I tell you this.  You'll be far happier living in a home that suits you and your family exactly then "saving" 10,000 and living somewhere "close but not quite."  And, in the long run, you will not miss the fast food burgers once a month.

Mind your own p's & q's!

The great expression, mind your own p's & q's I'm told comes from the bars in the U.K.  When something was happening at the other end of the bar that another patron was tempted to get involved with, say an argument or fight, the bar keep would instruct them to mind their own p's & q's (meaning pints and quarts of beer).  In other words, stay out of it and mind your own business.

During our Realtors' office tour of new listings, some of us travelling together started chuntering about the low level of service offered by some in our profession and other annoying work models that reflect poorly on service oriented Realtors.  At one point one of our colleagues said these simple words.  "You know, I just work.  I do my thing and don't trouble myself with all the junk out there."

It is true that it can be so distracting tilting at the windmills of injustice in any work place that you stop giving enough thought to your own business! 

Never mind what anyone else is doing.  What am I doing?  What model of service do I personify?  That, at the end of the day -- and the beginning of the day for that matter -- is all that I can change.  By exemplifying top service I do hope to be a good influence.

This kind of influence is proactive rather than reactive.  And, far more satisfying.

Whatever it is in human nature that chooses to focus on the 5% that's wrong in any situation instead of the 95% that's right is pretty darn stupid.

To work on changing this habit, whenever I am tempted to comment on some dud failing to provide service in the Real Estate industry I challenge myself instead to come up with a unique and creative idea to enhance my business.

Minding my own business, really, really well is a full time job!