Backsliding – Why we all need to understand this concept!

The definition of backsliding is to regress to a previous state. Nearly everyone has experienced backsliding in a variety of areas in their lives.

Here are some of the reasons for backsliding at home:

• Have a new or reoccurring health problem with yourself or a loved one
• Hold or plan a special event in or around your home
• Must assist a loved one or friend with an event outside the home (wedding, party, move)
• Add something “new” to your home, New Pet, New Person, New Furniture.
• Acquire a New “helpful” tool – Example: Robot vacuum
• Plan a re-model or redecorate your home, (Paint, Carpet, Flooring) 
• Get a new job or project that changes your daily or work week schedule
• Have an in-home maintenance emergency such as a pipe or roof leak, plumbing issue, pest issue
• Dealing with broken appliances – troubleshooting, getting replaced or repaired

Here are some of the reasons for backsliding at work:

• Changing office or workspace location
• New technology or system implementation
• Having to cross train staff or a new person
• Taking on the responsibilities of a colleague who is leaving or being promoted
• A large important project with an impending deadline
• Out of office travel
• Too many unplanned or last minute meetings to attend
• Support staff illnesses or absences causing delays of needed material or information
• Technology failure or system going offline

The best way to cope with backsliding is to accept the inevitable and plan for reduced progress. Acknowledgment and awareness of backsliding means more understanding of the process in your home and work life and less frustration with yourself and others.

PS If you want to know why a robot vacuum means backsliding, it means all floors need to be cleared of objects it can “suck up”, get stuck on or get lost underneath. Time will be spent searching for the robot who is hiding below something. Usual lost areas include bookcases, dressers, beds, closets. Items that a robot can “suck up” include bed linens, towels, clothing-especially long dresses or robes. Robot vacuums will also get stuck on some floor vents or behind a chair. Don’t get me started about robot vacuums and pets…. However, once a robot vacuum is understood and your home designed to accommodate it, the robot vacumn becomes a great time saving device.

Cleaning Distinctions – Let’s Make Them!

One of the difficulties we face as we age is seeing and smelling the dust, dirt and general debris. Sensory decline in older adults increases clutter potential. 

Make a distinction between light housekeeping and general housekeeping and deep cleaning services. Make a push for twice a year deep cleaning to your older or physically challenged clients.

For someone who is aging, especially those who are unfamiliar with housekeeping services, they may think “light housekeeping’ is good enough. But it really isn’t.  Light housekeeping services which are often provided as part of in- home care provider contracts, are just that. Light! Contracted Caregivers don’t seek to do more than is in their required contract. They may in fact be discouraged due to liability limits to do more.

Deep cleaning which involves lifting or moving the heavy furniture (to vacuum the carpet or floor below), dusting the heating or air vents and baseboards, is a household chore that needs to be done at least semi- annually.

Another area to observe for deep cleaning is the computer desk and  television corner. Older PC’s and TV monitors are notorious dust bunny attractors. Fans and air vent areas need to be checked and cleaned for dust build up.

Cleaning out the refrigerator is also a deep cleaning chore. In fact this is not an easy service to find help for. Deep cleaning a refrigerator can take an hours worth of time.  Light housecleaning services do not offer or desire to provide this helpful service.  Often this is because they don’t want to get into a battle with the homeowner about good food and bad. Reaching into the back or bottom of a refrigerator is not an easy job. Many refrigerators have various parts that need removal for deep cleaning and putting them back together is often a puzzle.

In-home servce intake providers (often LCSW) or professional organizers need to start serving as educators. At the onset of client work state firmly that a household will need to get some additional cleaning services in order to keep the house clean and safe, not only for the client but for the contracted caregivers.

The Three Losses in Five Years Syndrome

Over the past 10 years, I have come across a subset of individuals who begin a sudden onset of chronic disorganization. These are individuals who are serving as family caretakers who have experienced at least three significant losses in their life over the span of 5 years. This subset has usually served as primary caretaker for either parent(s), spouse or sibling(s). Many of them also serve as the executor of one or more of these estates. Many of these individuals seem to take about 7 to 12 years after the final loss to come to terms with this in their life.

What I would like to see is a more active approach to treating this, more on the onset prevention than as an after effect treatment.

It would be beneficial to have physicians and their staffs work to identify caretakers who are already at two losses in five years, and encourage them to get additional support through grief counseling, caretaker support group participation and for those financially able, consider the services of a skilled professional organizer. A skilled professional organizer can do wonders to help the “primary caretaker client ” in terms of time management, goal setting, project planning and management. Many professional organizers can help establish bill paying and document management systems to handle the growing paperwork that complex and long-term medical conditions usually entail as well as documents for estates probate. A professional organizer can help the client simplify his or her life and environment as well as serve as a body double for difficult and often procrastinated tasks.

While a professional organizers services are not inexpensive, they are a valuable tool that may help the primary caretaker live a more vibrant and fulfilling life while and after experiencing heavy losses in their life.

The Three Losses in 5 Years are primarily death losses. For some, however, one of those losses can be the loss of a pet, divorce or significant job loss.

I believe more research and education is needed in this area. Let’s hope that this syndrome can be more clearly understood and helpful strategies for success developed and promoted to the general public.

 

This is a best of post

Show Your Work

Austin Kleon’s  Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered published  written in 2014  is a quick and helpful read for all ages,  Share Something Small Everyday is a simple yet wonderful concept  explained and nicely diagramed in chapter 3. This concept is perfect for aspiring creatives and artists to understand and immediately begin the process. Share Something Small Everyday is also a great strategy for young high school S.T.E.M. students who want to start distinguishing themselves from the rest of the pack

Open Up Your Cabinet of Curiosities , chapter 4 brings home the gem “Your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who you are and what you do – sometimes even more than your own work.” Kleon.  In this regard, Austin believes you should always give credit where credit is due and don’t share what you can’t credit.

Learn to Take A Punch is a chapter about building resilience, something all creatives, leaders and visionaries need. I almost passed this by on the first glide by but realized the value upon preparing for this review.

This under 225 page book will take you no time to read, yet will provide some useful and practical insights for some parts of your own work  or your client’s. The thing to remember about this book is that it is SHORT, therefore don’t expect too much.  However, it’s the words and wisdom in this little book that will come in handy from time to time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resolutions

It is almost the official time of year when we work on setting resolutions.

Here is an easy way to get started on your resolutions for 2013. What can you do more of in 2013? What can you do less of?

The More

Smile More
Laugh More
Walk More
Drink More Water
Appreciate More
Read More
Write More
Listen More

The Less

Eat Less
Swear Less
Worry Less
Frown Less
Complain Less
Procrastinate Less
Talk Less

Do you want to make more progress in 2013? It may be a perfect time to start working with a transition coach to help you get more from your life in 2013.

Three Losses in Five Years

The Three Losses in 5 years Syndrome

Over the past 10 years, I have come across a subset of individuals who begin a sudden onset of chronic disorganization.  These are individuals who are  serving as family caretakers who have experienced at least three significant losses in their life over the span of 5 years. This subset has usually served as primary caretaker for either parent(s), spouse or sibling(s). Many of them also serve as the executor of one or more of these estates.   Many of these individuals seem to take about 7 to 12 years after the final loss  to come to terms with this in their life.

What I would like to see is a more active approach to treating this,  more on the onset prevention than as an after effect treatment.

It would be beneficial to have physicians and their staffs work to identify caretakers who are already at two losses in five years, and encourage them to get additional support through grief counseling, caretaker support group participation and for those financially able,  consider the services of a skilled professional organizer.  A skilled professional organizer can do wonders to help the “primary caretaker client ” in terms of time management, goal setting, project planning and management. Many professional organizers can help establish bill paying and document management systems to handle the growing paperwork that complex and long-term medical conditions usually entail as well as documents for estates probate.  A professional organizer can help the client simplify his or her life and environment as well as serve as a body double for difficult and often procrastinated tasks.

While a professional organizers services are not inexpensive, they are a valuable tool that may help the primary caretaker live a more vibrant and fulfilling life while and after experiencing heavy losses in their life.

The Three Losses in 5 Years are primarily death losses.  For some, however, one of those losses can be the loss of a pet, divorce or significant job loss.

I believe more research and education is needed in this area. Let’s hope that this syndrome can be more clearly understood and helpful strategies for success developed and promoted to the general public.

 

This is a best of post from 2010.

Rushing – All in Your Mind?

Last week I covered the physical reasons for rushing – now I want to cover the other causes of rushing a project or activity, along with some preventive strategies.

We tend to start rushing if we find we were spending too much time in our “head”  concentrating on something else and need to catch up. The key here is to first acknowledge that you have been unavailable and then secondly work out a schedule to complete your task safety and productively.

The second reason for rushing can also be caused by allowing ourselves to  follow the pace of others. This can be dangerous and have less effective results. Again the key is to first acknowledge that you are “doing this”. You might identify the “doing of this” by observing your talking speed or your walking pace. If you find yourself speeding up your voice pace or copying the walking or movement pace of your client or co-worker you have likely caught their rushing bug. After observing and identifying your case of rushing, it is time to take a deep breath and physically slow your pace down. A short five-minute water break might be in order to help you go back to the more normal calmer state of your being. Your client will likely be able to use the break to slow themselves down.

Rushing is a way to create problems for yourself, your company or client. By being aware and understanding how rushing can affect you or your client,  you can consciously work to avoid it. This will allow you to create a more productive,  safer and calmer working relationship and working environment.

Link to earlier Stop Rushing post.

This is a best of post from 2010.

Time for a Calendar Review

Have you reviewed your calendar lately? A calendar review is a great way to get insight into your productivity. To do this helpful exercise, open up your online or paper calendar and review your past 12 months of listed activities.

• Do you have significant and functional social time with friends, family and loved ones?
• Have you included physical exercise and healthy activities to reach your health and fitness goals?
• Are you including enrichment and life long learning activities into your schedule?
• Are the associations and organizations that you belong to and attending fulfilling your needs?

Your calendar can give you valuable data into how you are spending your time. It can also flag activities that you list but do not attend. Take some time to review your calendar, it will be time well spent.

Quick Productivity Review

The last week of August is often slow because of the impending Labor Day Weekend. This is a good time to review your productivity. Take a moment to look at your Task Distractors and your Mental Distractors. Can you make a plan to reduce or eliminate these for a few moments or several hours at a time?

Identify and Reduce your Task Distracters

• Internet
• Email
• Texting
• People stopping by
• Telephone
• Cell Phone
• Smart phone aps
• The physical mail
• Magazines, books, newspapers
• Television
• IPod, MP3 device or radio

Identify and Reduce your Mental Distracters

• People or situations renting “space” in your head
• Generating new ideas
• Tangential exploits
• Daydreaming
• Negative thinking

Examining Your Hobbies

I’ve been discussing hobbies on my blogs lately. After some more thinking, I believe hobbies come in four distinct types.

Creation: Creation hobbies are those that involve crafting, building, designing

Collection: Collection hobbies are those that involve locating, cataloging, displaying, discussing

Observation:  Observation hobbies are those activities that involve watching or attending as in the theater, art shows, museums, auto races, or ball games

Participation: Participation hobbies are those activities that involve doing such as dancing, running, photographing, singing, playing an instrument, or acting

There are no rules for hobbies. There are no right or wrong activities. Hobby selection is what works for you at your time, energy level or financial situation in life.

Sometimes we may participate in a hobby for many years until an injury or reduced physical sense comes in to play. We may then transition to being an observer. Conversely, we may be an observer and affectionado for many years until we have the time to commit to becoming an active participant.

Some hobbies involve a crossover between the four types. Travel is one example. Travel can be thought of as an observe and participate activity. When traveling we often choose to observe others performing different activities not seen in our usual daily life.

Now might be a good time to list your hobbies and see where you are in terms of the four categories.