Learning new tricks

Last week one of my coaching clients called to say she was giving up. Ginger had her own cookie business and she had been very successful. Everyone in town was raving about her liverwurst twist and salmon chip biscuits. It was about six months into business when she called me in tears. She had just made her first major mistake. 

 One day, she was so busy she shipped a huge order of liverwurst twists to a major customer who needed only salmon chip biscuits and needed them for a major event THAT VERY DAY! 

Needless to say, Ginger lost that major client. That was the first setback she had in her business, and she told me she thought it was a sign that she shouldn't be self employed. I told her to sit, lie down, and breath.

Yes, I told her, she made a mistake, and yes, she lost a customer, but she had many success stories up to that point. What she did wrong, we discussed, was she didn't know her limits. Now that she lost that customer, she was better able to serve the others. Ginger decided to hold off on pursuing new customers for a few month to focus on the ones she had. 

The story doesn't stop there. I just heard a local magazine had called and asked her to be featured in their latest "Best of the Best" issue for her newsest creation: beef bit blondies!

Compass

PS - Have a question?  Need advice?  Want an opinion?  Just Ask Compass by sending me an email.

If you can't do it alone ask a friend!

People tend to let themselves get too busy. They keep adding responsibilities and tasks to their schedules, forgetting they need to have fun and relax, too. I'm pretty good at having fun and relaxing, so I think I'm a good person to help others learn to take more time for themselves.

The best thing to do when you feel like you are running around everywhere, only to find you are running in a circle chasing your tail, is to ask for help. Yep, that's right, you don't have to do everything alone. If your spouse is better at fixing things than you are, ask that person to do it for you. If you are not very good at math, perhaps you can pay someone to do the bookkeeping for your business so you can focus on what you are good at.

Take me for example. I am good at finding things that are lost, so whenever something is lost my family sends me off to look for it. However, I am not good at getting things off high shelves because I am so small, so when I need to get something that is up high, I go and get a taller member of my family to help.

I think teamwork is the best way to get anything done!

PS - Have a question?  Need advice?  Want an opinion?  Just Ask Compass by sending me an email.

Camps!

Dear Compass, Help! I'm trying to decide what to do with the kids for summer vacation. We take plenty of time off during the summer, but we do have some weeks that we both work, and that is when the kids attend summer camps. This year my in-laws, who live in another state, want to take them for those weeks. My husband thinks this will be a great time for the kids, but I am worried about them going all summer without socializing with a group of other children. What do you think we should do?

Camp Mom

---

Dear Camp Mom,

I don't think either of you is wrong. I enjoy spending time with people my own size as well, but sometimes it is great to be loved and taken care of by someone special. How many weeks are we talking about? Perhaps you can split them between the trips to your in-laws, and a one week camp here or there. Another options would be to make sure you schedule play dates with your kids and some of their friends before or after the trip.

How often are your kids able to see their grandparents? This could be made into an exciting and special time to spend with them. My family went to Europe last year, and they left me with some special friends while they were away. I had so much fun and I was able to explore a whole new place! Your kids might feel the same way. 

Compass

PS - Have a question?  Need advice?  Want an opinion?  Just Ask Compass by sending me an email.

 

What to do, what to do...

Being a coach, I'm often asked how I decided what project I should do first on a busy day. Here's how I start my day: I wake up early and make sure my family is also awake early. Without me they wouldn't get up in time, so this is one of the most important things that I do. Next I go for a brisk walk outside, come back in, take a drink of water, and take a nap for an hour or two. Are you noticing the pattern? I start my day with the most important thing I have to do-- I make sure my family is awake on time-- then I move on to the next important thing on my list, I go outside and take my walk. 

When you have a lot in your water bowl and you don't know where to begin, the best thing to do is start off on the thing that needs to get done the most that day, or that morning. It doesn't matter if it is the longest project you have to do, or the shortest, the hardest or the easiest, you should start your day with the most important. When that is complete you move on to the next important task for that day. That way, by the end of your day, if there is something you didn't finish it is ok. 

For example, my day ends with dinner, then sitting around the house with my, before curling up and going to sleep. Now I am all rested up to start the day again by waking up my family early.

GET OUT!!!

I like to run. I like any game where there is a ball I can chase around. Now that the snow is finally melted my family and I are spending more time outside, and I am able to chase my ball all around the yard. I am pretty active all year round, but I know many people get sort of lazy during the winter time. Well, it’s time to get off the couch and back on your feet! The grass is green, the sun is warm, and there is no reason to sit around inside anymore.

Ok. I know. I’m known to get all excited about going outside only to lie down on the grass with my tummy sticking straight up, but I want to encourage you to get active. Take a walk with your family. The trails are beginning to dry up near my home, so there is no excuse not to get out in the wilderness. Choose your favorite ball and play your favorite game with it. It doesn’t matter to me what you play, as long as you are running around.

All this hiking and running keeps me really healthy, but it also makes me thirsty. Remember to bring a water bottle with you wherever you go, and remember to bring water for other members of your family that drink from a bowl instead of a bottle.

Compass
PS - Have a question?  Need advice?  Want an opinion?  Just Ask Compass by sending me an email.

Health. Insure it.

Ugggh...

Health insurance.  Don't have it.. sure could use it.

I had to go for a check up and a few shots -- two to be exact.  Now its
true I had to have a sonogram -- my family thought I was pregnant.  (I am
not by the way.  Just because you start getting big hooters doesn't mean
you are pregnant.  They saw me getting BIGGER and thought, "Oh my
gosh, Compass is pregnant!"

(There are many reasons for getting BIGGER.  Just ask any person who
eats a lot of cheese cake).

So, anyways... Off I go for the sonogram and once I was determined to be NOT
PREGNANT I was the recipient of two shots.

Then came the real pain:  the bill.

Over one-hundred dollars for a brief exam to be told what I already knew --
that I wasn't pregnant -- and get two shots (and not the kind you have at a bar
on a Friday night). I don't know about you -- but I am sick to know how much
health care costs.  I don't have to pay the bill -- my family does --
but it still is crazy --what am I supposed to do?

Compass

PS - Have a question?  Need advice?  Want an opinion?  Just Ask Compass by sending me an email.

An uncertain future.

Compass, I am concerned these days about my financial future.  Everything seems so tenuous.  What should I do with my money?  CDs?  Certainly not the stock market?!  Overseas companies?

Worried

---

Worried,

Personally, I'd bury it someplace in my backyard.  But you do run the risk of not realizing where you put your stash and then that's a problem.

The real problem, from my perspective, is greed-driven decision-making; in concert with this drive for more, more, more that so many people have.  Its like people are in a race -- not with your neighbors but with yourself.  How much is enough?

I know one person who has 4 flat screen TVs -- one in every room.  I know another person who owns a car for work, a car for family use and a jeep for the summer!  And that is just for him!  His wife also owns two cars. 

And its not just TVs and cars.  I know someone else that has dishes they use daily, another complete set of dishes for Christmas and another complete set of dished for other special occasions.  Plus they have another complete set -- the set they had before they bought their "new" every day set -- in their attic -- in storage -- just in case.  Just in case what?  Crazy if you ask me.  I would be happy with just one bowl.  Really.

Now you might not have 4 TVs, 5 cars or 4 sets of dishes, but chances are you have more than you need of something.  Shoes?  Sporting equipment?  Computers?  Games?  DVDs?

What's it like to always need more?

Now what do you think it would be like to be happy with what you have?  No, not to be complacent and lie around all day in a world void of motivation.  To strive for greatness, but to be happy with the present.

It is, after all, called "present."  And if you are rushing around focused on this that or the other thing, you are wasting this "gift."

Compass

PS - Have a question?  Need advice?  Want an opinion?  Just Ask Compass by sending me an email.