Welcome to Chez Cliff!

Continued from yesterday . . .

Paty:  It’s funny that you should say that it’s hard to get started, the opposite is true for me.  Easy to get started, extremely hard to finish!  I lose interest or I’ll get distracted by another newer and more interesting project.  UGH!  It’s so frustrating sometimes.

Clifford:  It certainly is.  That’s why being motivated is key.  Motivation not only gets us started but also sustains us to the end.  And sometimes that motivation can change from when you start to when you finish.

In high school, my motivation for getting my engineering degree was money and prestige.  Being able to collect a fat pay check, and say “Hi, I’m an aerospace engineer” appealed to me.

Boy was I dumb.

In college, my engineering classes were not easy.  I’m not one of these naturally smart people: I have to work and work hard.  Eighteen hour days were normal, even during the weekend.  Doing homework, studying, projects, going to labs . . . barf!  By the time final exams were over, my brain was fried.  Each semester, I’d return home ready to quit.  What kept me going?

Leiderhosen.

Yep.  Leiderhosen.  Those goofy German leather shorts.

During the Christmas and summer break, I’d leave my school in Florida and return to Michigan.  The only job I could find was being a server in a German restaurant.  Leiderhosen was my required uniform.

Little old ladys, grabbing the hair on my legs.  Constantly being asked “Do you yodel?”  Picking up plate after plate, filled with half-eaten chicken parts.  Cold mash potatoes and gravy, dripping on my shoulders.  Getting stiffed by Canadian tourists.

My motivation started off with profit and prestige.  When that fizzled away, my motivation changed into fear.  Fear of having to wear Leiderhosen and refill cokes for the rest of my life.

Paty:  What is the most valuable piece of advice you can think of?

Clifford:  Two pieces would compete for most valuable.

(1)  Find your motivation trigger point.  We all have them.  What is yours?  Greed?  Fear?  Excitement?  Whatever it may be, hit that point and hit it hard.

(2)  Be very very selective of who you listen to.  Ninety five percent of the people out there will tell you that it can’t be done.  If someone tells you no, move on.  Eventually you’ll find that 5% who can show you how to do it.

Long time reader, commenter and friend Paty conducted this quasi-interview with me.  With her permission, the exchange has been posted below.

Paty:  First of all, have you always been [goal orientated]?  If not, what was your motivation to change?

Clifford:  To be honest I’ve never considered myself a goal orientated person.  I just do stuff.  My mom confirmed that I have always this way, even as a kid.  Maybe it was the environment I grew up in . . . who knows?

Is it important to have goals?  I believe so.  If you want to get somewhere, knowing the destination is the first step.

Paty:  Do you have a system you like to follow?  If so what is it?

Clifford:  Many books about setting goals and achieving them exist.  How many have helped me?  Zero.  That’s not to say the methods don’t work.  Some talk about making lists, others use SMART, some employ “pin the tail on the donkey” method . . .

My “system” starts with motivation.  If you’re really not motivated to do something, then it doesn’t matter what technique or system is applied.  The goal or objective is not going to get realized.

So what is it that motivates someone?  Motivation is usually tied to some emotional need.  Love, hate, fear, joy, sadness etc are all emotional needs that require something.  Motivation is that drive to address one of these emotional needs.  Marking people understand this and play on these emotions.  This in turn motivates us to buy a product or service.

Once that motivation is present, then a simple “To Do” list is created.  For simplicity, my first list answers the question: “What do I need to do to get started?”.  Then those tasks are outlined.  Sometimes my lists reach 30 or 40 items.  Do I try to accomplish all items in one day?  Absolutely not.  The quickest path to burnout is doing everything, all at once.  My goal is to complete between 5 and 10 items.  If you focused on simply completing five small items per day, you’d be amazed at your progress after a week.

What defines a small item?  Something consuming maybe 5 minutes.  If you don’t think a lot can be done in five minutes, time yourself reading this:  ”Yes, I’m interested in purchasing a duplex.  Could you research the MLS and send me a listing that matches XYZ criteria at X to Y price range?  Thanks!”

My daily schedule is blocked out like this:

• 9 am to 10 am – All phone calls are made during this window.
• 11 am to 1 pm – Errands are run.  If my physical presence is required, I go during this time.
• 4 pm to 6 pm – Work on other projects.

That’s it.  After 6 p.m., I’m usually in the kitchen making some kind of balsamic red-wine reduction.

While my schedule may sound overboard, I realize that certain times of the day need to be blocked out for activities.  If that time isn’t blocked out, then I keep putting stuff off for later.  Putting something off is a great way not to accomplish something.

Admittedly my system is rather simplistic.  But it works.  My greatest challenge is getting started.

Part 2 will follow tomorrow.

Sometimes, life just gets in the way.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

Instituting Skype and a SkypeIn Number has helped tremendously.  It never occurred to me how much my cell was intruding and disrupting my life.  Still pegged to a “9 to 5″ desk, each time my cell would ring I’d have to stop whatever it was I was doing (napping, blogging, surfing, youtube watching) and take it outside.

Three cool aspects of Skype

Voice mail management  

Each message is recorded, along with the caller ID information.  The messages appear as a list, allowing any voice mail to be listened to with a click of the button.  No more having to wade through message after message to find that one that’s important.  Even if Skype is closed, the caller ID information is still captured.

If I need to keep a message, for whatever reason, it’s permanently on my computer.

Auto Redial

Rare as it is, busy signals still exist.  Skype offers the option of continual redialing until the call makes it through.  It does it all behinds the scenes, without having dial tones or that ‘beep beep boop boop beep’ dialing.  When it finally makes it through, the Skype window pops up front with the person’s voice flowing through my speakers.

Night and Weekend Minutes

Now I can make calls whenever and not have to think “Is this during peak hours or is it night time yet?”  Doing research into Verizon, going over during peak hours is 40 cents a minute.

Two aspects of Skype that annoys me

Caller ID

Or lack of.  Even though the caller’s information is displayed, mine is not.  My number displays as “Unavailable”.  

People have become use to looking at their Caller ID to see who is calling.  Right now, my number shows up as “Unavailable”.  ”Unavailable” is usually reserved for telemarketers, serial killers, psychotic clowns and other people we don’t want to talk to.  Now people shove me right into the voice mail bucket.

Doing research on their pitiful website (which I’ll address momentarily), Skype is actually a UK company and Caller ID only works in the UK.  Searching for a 3rd party solution produced nothing.

Site Support

Five minutes into searching Skype’s website revealed it is a heavily Windows based support.  Mac seemed to be completely ignored except for the “Download for OSX” button.  Eventually the Mac support was found, but only after I googled “Caller ID Option Skype Mac”.  Lord Google pointed me to the Skype mac website, where they told me it wasn’t possible.

Overall

My primary concern was voice quality.  After making approximately 50 phone calls, no longer was quality a concern.  Granted a screaming fast internet connection never hurts.  But the transmission over the internet can get broken up or choppy due to peak hours of heavy internet usage.  But so far, all phone calls have gone out and come through with no problem.

From the beginning GrassGuy has been part of the show.  Every two weeks, I could count on my grass being cut and looking good.  Never a second thought.  Each month I’d receive a bill and every month a check would automatically be cut from the checking account.

That is until 2008.

GrassGuy told me his son, who speaks English really well, had joined the family business.  Junior was the guy.  I suppose there’s some fatherly pride involved, when the son picks up the reign of the family business and takes over.  Now GrassGuy can do what he does best: cut grass.

This year I’ve had to call six times, practically insisting that the grass get cut.  And when the grass gets cut, not all of it gets cut.  The area where the car is parked is always forgotten and that requires a follow-up phone call with “yeah yeah tomorrow”.

This has become too tiresome.  For the moment, the karma streak is laying low.  But coming home, see the neglected grass and weeds has just gotten to me.

Am I forcing too much drama into this situation?  He charges $45 per month to cut my grass.   A measly $45.  Maybe if I hadn’t become accustomed to this great level of service before, this new service model wouldn’t affect me so.  But it has.

I’ve been told in this business hired help usually lasts about two years.  Then the hired help becomes complacent, lazy or gets an attitude.  GrassGuy has never given me attitude nor has his work ever been anything but extraordinary.  But getting him to work has become another time consuming venture and that’s something to avoid at all costs.  Especially these days.