I’m a planner (I can see those of you who know me shaking your head vigorously yes and saying “Yup!” or in the case of my husband, he is saying, “That’s an understatement!”).  I love to know what I’m going to be doing and when I’m going to be doing it.  I also seem to attract clients who also have a passion and a healthy respect for planning.  

It seems like for most of 2018, technology has been kicking my butt, when it comes to planning.  For example, on the 4thof July the space bar on my computer would NOT work.  What can you type without using a space bar?  Not much, except website addresses!  To make a long story short, I ended up having to send my computer away to be fixed and was without it for over a week!

Being without my main tool to connect with my clients, my prospective clients, etc. caused me to have to approach my work life differently.

It’s also important to remember… I’m a planner.

With technology throwing a monkey wrench into my work life, I came up with three things that helped me stay sane during this time and in general can help me minimize my frustration when things don’t go as planned:

  • ACCEPT MY PLANS WOULD BE OUT OF WHACK

Because I didn’t have my “normal” tools available to me, I had to accept my plans would be out of whack.  For example, finding links to certain websites on my phone, would take longer to do. I had to accept writing an email or a FB post was going to take longer because I’m not a fast phone typer.  I also had to accept there were things I was going to have to put off doing because I didn’t have the necessary information available to me on my phone or ipad.

  • EXPECT MY PLANS TO CHANGE

    This may sound the same as #1 above; however, there is a subtle and very important difference. Expecting my plans to change helped me to become less frustrated when in fact, my plans did change.  It’s rare that my plans will go exactly as I imagined and that’s 100% okay. This is something I have also seen with some of my clients.  Most planners I know, WANT the plan to go just the way we have it laid out, which is great.  However, the reality is, more often than not, the plan will need to be altered.  Often the new plan provides an even better end result and/or a more enjoyable path to the finish line.  Additionally, going into the plan with the realization it will probably change, can help eliminate the exasperation that can occur when a plan does go off course.

  • FIND TOOLS TO HELP MINIMIZE THE DISRUPTION

    While I was computer-less, I found creative inexpensive ways to make the shift in my plans easier and more productive.As I noted above, I can type on my phone, and I always marvel at how fast some people can zip through a really long text, email or FB post.  Unfortunately, that is NOT me.  This was initially making me very frustrated because I had detailed emails to send, marketing FB posts to write, etc.  It occurred to me there must be a wireless keyboard I could hook-up to my phone.  I found one and it was a lifesaver!  I cannot tell you what a difference this small purchase made to how I felt about getting things done. And, it’s also a great tool to use when I travel.

We depend on our technology so heavily. When we sit down to use our computer, phone, tablet or other electronics to get our professional work done, it is aggravating when we encounter a blip (e.g., the space bar doesn’t work, the computer is doing an update, the menu bar changed and now you can’t find what you’re looking for, we can’t find a file).  Realizing a blip can and will happen (usually at the worst possible time!), keeps us on our toes, especially if you’re a planner like me!

Helen Kosinski
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