UPWARD and ONWARD

OMG I don't follow my own advice!!

I tell ya, having a Blog can lasso you 

and whip you back around or narrow the road

back to a more manageable life.

As usual, I start writing about one thing and then 

veer off into a completely new direction.

I'm like that in person often and it can get

on your nerves because I could start one conversation

and swipe over to sidebars where you then have to

swerve back to the original tale when inhale before:

 "well, anyway....."

when I finally exhale to catch my breath, 

like a scuba driver without a tank.

There's been a jiggle and a jaggle of activity 

on OPTIONEERJM and

MEANDERINGSabout (LINK:  right side bar)

That's pretty reflective of what's going on in real life.

Then, like a nudge in the elbow to take a look.

There's been a jump in Word Press reader activity.

Alot of activity to my Blogs comes from Facebook.

Most of my Facebook Friends are those whom I engaged with on Twitter LIKE:

Calvin Lee​   Marcia Colliers    Grazy       and so many others I could go on and on

.... so I will, LOL, Libby first showed me how art therapy really works, complimented by a blog

she writes about mental health matters, and truly one of

 the first to pioneer mental health awareness on social 

media.

I realize I owe my blog about  just blogging and integrating social media and potentially valuable insights to this downsize and right size mentality

 that filters into personal lives as our twilight years unfold.

Maybe I'll segue into Career Advice on my blog.

  Who knows.

I do know that I want a semblance of order, 

actually crave it, since we're in the middle of packing boxes for movers who will be here in 36 hours or so.

Maybe I can help others, young men or women, veterans or leaders by giving a 

few pointers -- can't hurt.  I mean, I'm selling social

 media like my life depends on it these days.

Encouraging everyone, as an evangelist often narrates

 beautifully, to get on board.

Once I'm back to painting and writing and developing 

my ETSY store to sell my art, see right, I may have a 

few brain cells left and still a reign on sanity.

QUANTITY and ACTIVITY does not mean QUALITY results

Based on my conversation with my favorite advocate these days from our Bank, I'm more optimistic.

For the last couple of weeks, we've had our place up for sale amid all the fearfulness of COVID-19, Coronavirus.  That likely demonstrates that we continue to live on the edge.

For the past couple of years, I've had quite a great deal of conversations and "market evaluations" by realtors from my local cesspool of choices.

Overall, not mentioning any names, with the intention to share in generalities to avoid any privacy infringements.

They are a lazy bunch.

They look for listings to sit on and sell rather than showing around buyers for the most part.  My perception.

Real estate has changed so much nowadays.  The picturesque display of your home is the most critical aspect:  how does it look on a screen.  That is taking "staging" to the top in priorities.  Clean counters, no photos, no insight into who has lived here for 26 years.

It all comes down to the MLS:  Multiple Listing Service.  Any licensed realtor can access it, navigate what ones are showing up on websites or get looped into email streams of listing.

Right from the start, I showed our realtor a place and kept referencing it as a benchmark.

That was when I had done research from all kinds of emails from a number of digital fronts.

In Calgary, Justin Havre & Associates and Tost Real Estate have won my admiration for fine tuning and honing in on my preferences so that the notifications are really exceptional.

We signed up for our current realtor as is good practice, and it is just not as robust or attune to my clicks.  

All of the places we have gone to view, were found from third party emails and links, nothing from our realtor's website.  In fact, even when I do a search through those engines and websites - both corporately and branded - my favorite place in Q has never surfaced on any of the email generated links or searches.  

If anything, there is a really concerning subpar perception that speed and turnover should supersede quality.

That's not my style.  Even though it works for many.

Now that our house is conditionally sold, we EXPECT that the deal will be honored.

The buyers saw our home twice personally.

A home inspection is good sense but it is no where part of the law that it is required.

Our first offer earlier this year that is part of the same complex was outbid. I'm very aware of the conditions.  We're going to see another unit tomorrow.

I have a skewed perception to today's realtor:  skip through the homework and focus on flipping links and more places.

Before scheduling our viewing tomorrow, I expect our realtor to inform us of something sits on the title, what it is, what it means, what it costs -- ALL BEFORE scheduling our time for the viewing.

Coming back with:  I told you, I did this only shows that we're missing the critical points.

THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT IS WHAT IS THE CRITICAL POINT?

I am going to continue with a blog, leaving out your name and any traceable links .....

The end in mind is what all parties had agreed to.

Our realtor was given a link to a place that I found exceptional and was viewed on our first day out, continuing to impress.

The sale of our place, has to meet a certain number in order for us to be able to buy that place.  

Our realtor and us, the sellers, need to be on the same page.  Drilling us down in price was not representing our interests when it was $30,000 less than what we listed, $45,000 less than what the realtor's market evaluation was.  

The song and dance on how our place needs work, has had 30 showings in two weeks he said was all because of his work.  He missed the price point conversation.

The possession date and price were all danced to the buyers' bidding, but the removal of conditions was too lengthy - I see that now.

Expecting me, recovering from breast cancer and my brain injured husband to be able to move in less than 30 days is not looking after our interests.

With a quick possess, the home inspection deadline should have been set within 5 days or max a week.

Don't let a lot of flurry of activity disarm you into thinking that the sales rep you are working with is taking care of you.

A sales rep who continually reinforces the final goal, references it when a sale is being made, ensured it would cooincide with our outgoing offer.  We lost on an offer because our possession date did not tee up with the sellers.  That was a critical check point that should have been covered because our realtor had all that information at his disposal.

I'm sure he's doing the normal way to operate and he is cheered on by his company because they're fooled into activity demands.

Ruling by activity allows a lot of details to slip through from "sell at all cost" rather than shredding the company's reputation along with the realtors.  Making sure the customers needs are taken care of is going to impact that reputation and feedback.  Plus details like conditions removal deadline would not be missed.  Or, a realtor who grasps the injured spouse, would do the best in making it painless and as smooth as possible, not tossing it back on the caregiver.

FOCUS on building a tribe online on all social media, not merely a following

#CalgaryBlogger
(c) Jeannette Marshall
 @optioneerJM on Instagram
@postingfromedge on Twitter
Original ART
#aPaintingFool hashtag capturing posts

FOCUS is the arrow that
shoots you to the moon!

Tackle one day at a time,
one task a day, scoped out,
scaled, cost analysis,
homework done.

THAT FOCUS can make or break you
trying to juggle too many priorities at once It is 100% contributor of any ONE downfall or failure.

Whether it is a personal life speed bump ~something that takes you out to left field, completely takes you off your game.

Or a slap in the ass from the making of income to support yourself, your family and significant others.  

It could be at FULL WARP speed coming right at you and even Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock could avert disaster from.

Watching a family member go through the struggles of survival, chronic pain tempered with oxicotin medication that evolved into dependency, then frozen so they turned to "street drugs" to soften the excruciating pain and diabetes side effects.

They ended up dying in the care of a medical facility in B.C. whose medical team had written off as an addict.  Not receiving the same care as what society deems acceptable.

Everything kept coming at em:  financial struggles where things became sources of money, compounded by multiple health infliction that were increasingly attacking mental wellness.

"WORRY stems from the lack of focus."

~ Jeannette Marshall

#CalgaryBlogger

#QUOTE

EVERYONE struggles to COPE

Nobody gets a pass.

One woman's agony is another person's mother or sister.

A new job, nerves, insecurity, lack of confidence from it taking years to find employment.  ~It's just another struggle someone else is trying to conquer.

WHEN YOU do too much at once
Something is going to cave.  No one is Wonder Woman or Superman or lives in a bat cave with extraordinary wealth.

For every PROBLEM there's a SOLUTION
How you tackle it is dependent on FOCUS.  Getting out the paper, with a pencil and drawing it out.  What is in front of you?  What is preventing you from realizing your dreams?

You can't get without steps
Identical to pigs can't fly.
You have to break it down.
Once you see what is in front of you:  it could be three columns or two.
You have to be able to break it down by steps, you can't leap over tall buildings, nor can you get to the final finish with that.

Let's keep it to three to maximize formula

COLUMN A ; PLAN A;  PLAN B
For example:  Accept new job
PROs and CONs on scale of 1-10, 10 best
Financial implications:  Income -expenses less> living costs (mortgage/rent+utilities
+phone/cell) = leftover for gas, smokes, drinks, groceries

OR, you can define COLUMN A and B to be simply on financial metrics

Then you start to focus on one item at a time.  What step allows you to move to the next step towards the final accomplishment?

IF it is a new job, use my "30-60-90 day Plan" to map it out so that you can hit the day running.  BONUS if you hand it to your boss before you're even hired - showing you can break it down to steps and timelines.

Just starting this off, you will discover how much you have been scrambling to accomplishment way too many things at once.  Naively thinking that you can finish in all quick swoop, while distractions from the other important matters that are falling behind too.

By setting a FOCUS, you can teach yourself discipline.  You force yourself to realize that in order to get this over with, you have things you may not want to do, perhaps someone can give you advice?  

Sidebars and unfocused activities, deviate from finishing anything, missing deadlines, mentally scattered.  It can give the impression that you are indecisive or a stumbling buffoon when you are anything but.

I see people who are in leadership who can be like this.  It is from the inability to divide and conquer tasks.

When you start to draw the plans out, follow the steps, adding new steps you discover on the quest, adjust timelines, deduct costs or delays.

That is really no different that what a Project Manager does:  

1)  Determine the project scope:  What the completed result will be, what is required to finish it, who will be required to work on it, how the decision making process works, what the budget is, how overruns on costs will be reported?  Who and how will third party resources be determined and/or accounted for by cost or by delays or time improvements.

In this, you are drawing out what your focus should be based on what the pros and cons dictated should be the highest priority.  The more honest and detailed you are, the easier it is going to assess and debrief on how it went.

This is discipline.

That is focus.