Ok, so the powerhouse woman who launched this awesome TheWorkatHomeWoman.com world that you find yourself in, is a very organized, very sweet person named Holly. She’s meticulous. She checks with us at least once a year to make sure we still want to be regular contributors. She outlines our writing deadlines a year in advance. She even reminds us that month when our stuff is due. I put the dates on my calendar a week out, three days out, and the day prior as an additional reminder. All this and I still find myself scrambling to get my submissions to her.
As I was whipping up this post, I stopped to wonder why.
Maybe, but that has such a negative ring to it. There’s got to be a better way to look at it. So, as a public service to the world, I thought I’d focus today’s post on putting a more positive spin on some of our not-so-great work habits.
Procrastinator or “Deadline Oriented”
Do you put off tasks you know you need to do and pin holiday decorations on your Pinterest boards instead? If so, you may be what others term as a “procrastinator.” I think that has such an ugly connotation, don’t you? Instead, why don’t we all accept that maybe inspiration doesn’t strike these people until the days, hours, even minutes before that big deadline? Maybe it is the excitement of living on the edge that drives us to produce in the 11th hour. Or, maybe we have put off looking into how to stop putting off things, like this other article I’ll read tomorrow. In any case, I prefer to say I am “deadline oriented.” That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Missing the Details or “Big Picture Thinker”
Hey, some of us are visionaries. Our goal is to look at the overall, overarching goals of the organization. Maybe there are some really important details we miss from time to time, but, that’s why we have those folks who are good at following all the minutia. Am I right? <<cricket cricket>> Ahem. Well, if someone calls you out for missing a detail or two, you can reframe the situation and explain you were watching things from the “ten thousand foot level.” No, I’m not really sure what that means. But it sounds good, doesn’t it?
Not Reading Your Email Fully or “Auditory Learner”
If you find yourself asking questions that you later realized were clearly outlined via email, you may be guilty of not reading your email. But, don’t worry. I’m on your side. I think you are just misunderstood. Sure, I may have spent 45 minutes crafting that informational masterpiece, and yeah, I think it rivaled War and Peace in length, but I can’t really hold it against you if you have the attention span of a gnat. Perhaps all these written words are driving you crazy. Maybe you just need to receive information verbally, or, it just doesn’t sink in. You, my friend, are an auditory learner. But, of course, this revelation probably won’t help you. Why? Because this point is #3 on the list and you stopped reading after the intro paragraph.
Sloppy or “Genius”
Has your desk been described using any of the following words: mess, disaster, a bomb went off, hurricane, sloppy, ridiculous, horrible, or train wreck? There are many other descriptors, some even involving unsavory language, but you get the gist. You are in luck. You can simply explain that your working environment is not messy but is a sign of a genius. I even found this very reputable article from BusyBuildingThings.com that name drops some well-known thinkers to help prove your point. If that fails, you can always go at them with the whole “organized chaos” thing and explain that YOU know where everything is located, and that’s all that matters.
Clicker aka Fidgeter or “Kinesthetic Processor”
Are you chewing on a pen RIGHT NOW? Or clicking a ballpoint pen – in and out, and in and out, and in and out? Or drumming on your desk, tapping your foot, or some other annoying habit that probably got you in trouble in grade school? Chances are you are a Kinesthetic Learner. Your body likes to keep moving, and you need some action to process things. So, when your colleagues give you the death stare, or, people like me snatch your pen out of your hand mid-click and throw it across the room, kindly explain that you are a Kinesthetic Processor.
Added Bonus: you can use this fact to legitimize all those weird toys you bought at Brookstone.
Conclusion
The truth is we all have some annoying habits we need to work on. Whether we are entrepreneurs, work for someone else, or stay super busy managing our households, it takes positivity and the willingness to see things from someone else’s perspective to build understanding and empathy. On the flip side, we can help out by being a bit more mindful of the annoying stuff we do, too.
Ok, be honest. What traits do you have that didn’t make the list? How do you have fun and put a positive spin on those traits?
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