Another year coming to the end

Want to wish everyone a Very Happy 2013.

May next year be a great year and will be posting my 2013 goals in the next couple of days along with how I did in achieving my 2012 goals.

If you are out tonight, please be safe and see you in 2013.

Busy time of year

For most people, this is a busy time of year.  Besides balancing the normal daily routine, there are so many other demands on our time.  Besides the extra demands on our time, there are all the different family commitments that go along with this time of year.

How do we juggle all the extra demands on our time when we are busy enough normally?  Well, it comes down to setting priorities and sticking to these priorities.  I know that I have lots of demands on my time at this time of year, but I figure out what needs to get done and what can wait until after New Years.  I may not always be able to keep the items that can wait off my mind, but at least I am able to remember they aren't urgent right now.

Over the last few days, I have figured out what I can set aside and what still needs to get done.  It's amazing when you realize that there are tons of things on your to-do-list, but so many of these items can be put on hold for a couple of weeks.  Of course, putting the items on hold means that they are going to be there in the new year, but at least for now they become a little less important.

Of course, there are still the family and friend commitments that are on the list for the next couple of weeks, but at least knowing what needs to be done and what can wait is a start.

So remember, go over that to-do-list and see what can wait and what needs to get done.  The goal over the next couple of weeks to try and relax a bit and not be stressed out about the items that remain on the to-do-list.  Now take some time to relax and enjoy being with the people you care about.

Cars and drivers

How often have you been out in a car and actually told a car off because of the behaviour of the car and driver. Of course, the car cannot hear you, and of course the drive can't hear you as well. It is fun sometimes to listen to what you actually say to the cars and drivers. I know one of the conversations I had was this morning. A car was in the way and of course I started talking to the other car. “Will you just decide where you are going and go because you are in the way.”

OK, as I said, yes, I have talked to cars wanting them to behave different, and I know that isn't going to happen. Maybe what I am really trying to do is release off the stress that I could end up storing up if I didn't react in someway. Yes, I know that my husband gets a good laugh because of the one-way conversations that I have with cars. No, the car isn't going to change what it's doing because it is actually the driver that is causing the car to behave like it is. So really what I am trying to do is get the car and driver to behave in a way that I think it should be behaving.

Of course, I am not sure why the car is behaving like it is, and there could be very good reasons. In some cases, the driver may not know exactly where they are going, or they could be issues with the car that I don't know about. So, maybe I should try and not talk to cars and try and figure out other ways of dealing with the stress I get when cars are in my way.

So next time a car gets in your way, instead of talking to the car, maybe you should take the couple of seconds delay as time to think of pleasant thoughts. Now, I just have to remember to actually practice the pleasant thinking instead of talking to the cars.

Documentation and its importance

Lately I have been dealing with a major project with a deadline of the end of November. At the beginning of the project, it looked like it would be a pretty easy project, but after doing some discovery, I found out that the project was going to be a lot more work than first anticipated.

The project was to gather information together and submit it as a complete report. That sounded pretty easy until I discovered that the information was in various spots and some of it wasn't even documented, so I had to do the documentation as well. I am not complaining about the documenting because that is something that I really enjoy doing. What I did learn through all of this is the importance of good documentation of policies and procedures and the need for having extremely good organization of these documents.

Organizations have to realize that documentation is required because if it is just in a person's head it can be easily lost. What if the person leaves the organization or isn't able to work for some reason for a long period of time. It is going to cost the organization a lot of extra time and energy to figure out how something is actually done instead of being able to look at the documentation and quickly do the work required.

I have heard people say that there is no need for documentation because I know what to do, so that is what is important. Well, it's great if you plan to be around forever and never have to be away from work, so no vacation or sick days. So even if you don't want to document what you do because you feel that it could result in you being let go, I am telling you that it's extremely important to document what you do. What if the company is audited for processes, and you are asked to show documentation about your job, can you do it?

So yes documentation may be a lot of work to do it, but having it does really help an organization. With proper documentation you can show that you do what it documented and what is documented is what you do.