Transparency and Flaws = Respect

I recently had a major drama with a terrible videographer that managed to make my work a living hell. We had recorded footage for two clients and around 3 weeks after this freelance videographer, doing some work on the editing side of things, refused to contact me. Yes I had tried everything from tweeting him, turning up at his work (of which he used the excuse I have no phone or email)...and basically overall extremely pathetic excuses. I the meantime I was going through a nightmare as these two new clients had only just started working with us on SYT Media. So what a bad first impression...I have indirectly lost their footage!

There were many tears, sleepless nights and I finally just came to my wits end and openly told the clients what had happened. Both were more understanding than I thought and both took more of an attitude of... 'let's move on, screw him, lets re-record'. Not only was this ordeal extremely stressful but it allowed me to experience a worst case scenario. By being transparent with the clients they understood my efforts to work with them openly and honestly growing our relationship even more. I obviously compensated for the damage and put right what I previously couldn't and admitted my faults. Finally I managed to obtain the 'lost' footage and offered to take legal action if it was not returned which showed the depth of my support of both projects.

What I learned from this experience (other than an interview does not mean that you know someone), is that transparency and open honest communication, however bad, will gain you more respect than keeping it to yourself and trying to fix it behind closed doors.

Getting the Balance: Work vs Recuperation

I've been away from writing for the past few days testing out an idea I had about getting the balance between my work and making more time for myself to recuperate. In doing so I have been speaking to various people who have struggled or are still struggling with getting this balance. This applies to those that either work from home and feel as if they are working 24/7 or finding that the feeling of 'I've got some free time let's get some work done so I can get ahead' is constant. If you're burning the candle at both ends, well there is no way you are going to be able to make it with your health and mind still intact. I tested out a few guidelines for myself this week to see if they would help initiate this balance and give me a more focused mind.

 

Set Out Your Work Hours

Make sure your weekends are for you and your evenings give you time to recuperate. If you plan on doing a 9 to 5 day then stick to it. Always remember the time taken out is just as important to make those next few working hours more productive. For me these hours meant, if an email is coming in that person would have to wait to until 9 am the next day, I don't even open the email. In addition I do a lot of work through social media, so a Facebook detox was in order last weekend. A great tool I used to block the site temporarily called 'Self Control' worked wonders.

Prepare Yourself for the Day Ahead

Always start out with a daily routine before you pick up your phone to look at those emails coming in. You need to be ready to take on the world if something crazy happens. My daily routine includes; meditation, breakfast, shower and if time a little bit of comedy. When dealing with the worst case scenario and your business or job starts to go down the drain you want to be coming from a position of strength rather than weakness. So start the day on a high.

Don't Blow Yourself Off

This little pointer I picked up from Marie Forleo, but worked wonders for me. It's so important to take that time out for yourself but dedicate it to you too. In committing to yourself you understand that this is the same concept as booking in a meeting and holding yourself accountable. Just think, you wouldn't skip a meeting last minute so why would you give yourself any less respect? Make the time for you and stick to it. This compliments the two pointers above. 

Your Health is Your Baby

Feeling stressed out and overwhelmed with work can have a serious knock-on effect with your health. Many times I have felt my body saying 'enough is enough', with the consequence of bad back pains and 3 days of being ill. Back pains are still something I still deal with on a regular basis due to the injury I had caused about a year ago from ignoring the problems. If you don't look after yourself who will? Your health is the number one priority. Yes I understand you might have a life changing event going on but frankly if you're not well you can't go. Not only will you feel rubbish once you are there but your minimal efforts to interact with people will come across as rude. 

Be Present - All You Have is Now

Being present is being mindful. I was so grateful to be taught this by Eckhart Tolle who understood that the present moment is all that you have, so why settle for anything else? We live int he present not the past or future. When you are eating, just eat rather than thinking 'what do I have to do today?' or 'I have that deadline I'm worried about'. It won't help you become more productive in the task you are currently doing. All you can do is all you can do. I get that saying just stop the worry and the buzz in your head, but there are ways to calm your mind on a regular basis through meditation. I highly recommend meditation to anyone suffering from anxiety, stress or just a frequent worrier. The practice will allow your mind to become more focused, relaxed and allow you to take in your surroundings giving your mind a mental break. See my previous post 'Switching off to standby and Switching Off' for more on this.

Feeling Bad... Just Stop It!

When I was a kid I was the worst at throwing a tantrum if I didn't get my way or something went wrong. Well now that I am older, I still cry but instead of getting angry about something when it goes wrong I have to deal with it, because frankly no one else will. Sometimes you have to give yourself some tough love and JUST STOP IT! Stop worrying and you can deal with the problem more logically and clearly, get worked up about it and you won't be as effective. If you have a bad habit then only you can change it no one else will and it's just that simple!


Here's a little video to demonstrate my point of tough love...