When my parents moved our family to Florida in 1976; I was taken from a private all girl catholic school and put into a public city school. This was January of my Jr year of high school. Pure culture shock.
Amongst many stories which I would now find funny or endearing there is one for sure which will stick with me forever.
I used the rest room for the first time, or at least intended too. Walking into the restroom filled with smoke and teenage girls was odd enough for me, yet it was the writing on the bathroom stahl which has stuck with me the most.
There is no use standing above the seat, the crabs in here jump 15 feet.
At the time I was absolutely devistated and no, I did not proceed with relieving myself. In fact, I zipped my pants up as fast as I could and never in my 6 months of attending that school, ever used the restroom.
This comes to mind because of the many instances I’ve had over the past couple of weeks where it is so evident that people are not reading what is written….completely. And, I will admit, I am guilty of it myself.
We are so much in a hurry, we scan read. Scan reading is looking for key words which identify the point. Just enough to get the jest. However, with scan reading we really miss a lot. Especially the fine details.
It’s much like our men. Yes, I say our because I speak with so many family and friends and we all bitch about the same thing. They just do not listen (or at least hear) to everything we say. Selective hearing?
I can only imagine if I didnt read that whole statement in the bathroom. Would I have gotten the crabs? LOL
Obviously I’m being funny, however the story is true. The reality is, when we fail to read something in its entirety we are not only doing ourselves injustice, we are causing others more work.
I’m going to tattle tale on myself as the pure example. We have an upcoming show. I’ve been watching the calendar because I “read” The bold print and understood what I read to say “special hotel pricing begins August 23rd”. I had it in my mental calendar that after August 23rd I would book our hotel at the reduced rate for this particular show.
That is not what it said. If I followed the sentence through, I would have realized the sentence actually states after August 23, the rooms open to the public and no more will be available at the special rate.
Now, I could argue, it was the way it was written. And, in my opinion it was not worded correctly. However, I have no one to blame but myself because indeed I did not read the sentence all the way through.
Prior to realizing this, I contacted the show coordinator which made her have to take time to respond and a couple of phone calls back and forth to the hotel. Completely unnecessary if I had just “paused” while I was reading
I run into this often with news or advisements I put out. People do not read. And I wonder, are we just lazy or just stupid busy?
I tend to think it’s a one or the other. I will have people contact me about our Free Freight Friday. We have been offering free freight, on the 1st Friday of each month since 2016. Since 2020 in an effort to not raise the pricing on a couple of our heavier items, we implemented a flat rate ship charge on 2 of our 5L Sanitation products.
We place on all our advertisements “minor exclusions apply” we state on all our advisements that these 2 items have a $10 flat rate for shipping. We also have a ship link at checkout which specifically says “flat rate BioSurf/Bioson”. I typically will get a minimum of 3 calls on free freight Friday day stating they are trying to place an order, and the site is charging them $10 shipping.
We also have a $60 minimum on that day. Clearly stated on all our advertisements yet, I receive 3-4 calls on that day saying they have been charged shipping.
I am not trying to call out the people who do this. As you can see above, I’m as guilty of it as anyone. I’m simply stating, we seriously need to slow down.
How exactly do we do this with our schedules as crazy as they are? Truth is, we just have to make a point to pause.
I’ve been able to develop a couple of new organizing tricks which has helped me maneuver my way through this year. I’ll be the first to admit, we have overdone it this year. However, with the introduction of sa’SHá, this craziness I brought upon myself was absolutely intentional.
Not counting all the 2-3 day trips traveling to clients out of State nor the full 1-2 day trips within my State this year we showcased at
- One Oregon in Portland
- Premiere Beauty Show Orlando
- IBS Las Vegas
- Nail Tech event of the Smokies Gatlinburg
- Nailpro show Sacramento
- Nails Expo San Juan PR
- (Upcoming) Debs Pro Nail retreat NY
- (Upcoming) Fun Fancy Nail event MA
- (Upcoming) Premiere San Antonio
To say I’ve had enough would be an understatement. Yet, we know we just gotta do what we gotta do right?
What I have found is;
- Delegating
- Organization
- Timing
are the 3 things which keep me paused or should I say reduces my stupidity
Delegating is difficult to do. My management skills tell me I have too, yet my Virgo self really has trouble letting go. I found though, it isn’t necessary to delegate a whole project. It’s just as helpful to delegate a portion.
Organization is imperative. If I am not organized in even the slightest aspect of my life, it’s chaos all the way
Timing is EVERYTHING. One of my most common statements is “I’m not there yet”. I know it drives my husband nuts however, timing is everything for me. With all the projects, shows, classes, salon visits and trainings I do…..if it’s not time to think about it….I don’t. Ask me about what I am working on today and when it’s time, I’ll discuss what needs to be worked on tomorrow
As we begin our journey into the Holiday season…..yes, it’s here, for our own sanity it’s Important we think about these 3 things. Put your notes and things to do in compartments and manage them one at a time. It’s the only way!
Although I do have some In State trips and a couple of out of state classes, I’m looking forward to October 7th when I am Back in my office and can begin seed planting for 2024.
I am also doing something I have NEVER done. October 28 thru November 5th I have made the decision to be OFF THE GRID. We will be out west celebrating the marriage of our beautiful daughter. I will not be checking emails, social media, text messages or phone calls. I do believe this will be the very first time I have ever done this in my 35 years of being I this industry .
I also trust my assistant and our warehouse team to manage things in an efficient and orderly fashion while I am away.
The great thing about working hard is the reward of playing g hard.
So…give yourself the luxury of taking that pause. Read slowly and thoroughly and save you and others a lot of unnecessary additional work.
You nailed it (no pun intended), CJ!
🙂