Picking Up the Peices

I would like to apologize for my long absence and not finishing my tool countdown.  I got really busy at work and home.  It was the holidays and people are all of a sudden putting in work orders like mad and the weeks are short, not to mention the things that need to be done at home.  With everything going on I had to prioritize and, unfortunately, the blog had to wait.

So, we are finished cleaning up the wrapping paper (by the way my daughter had her first birthday on the 6th!), taking down the decorations, we took back the bottles and cans from the New Years party, and everything at work is caught up.  Looking back now I have to say that things got pretty hectic and stressful during that busy time but I am glad that it happened.  We learn from every experience we go through and it makes us better.  Every holiday season that goes by we get better at keeping up with the influx of work orders and the make readies that have to be done; all shorthanded as people take vacations and we deal with shortened hours and days off.

So I am going to sidetrack from my tool blog again and concentrate on something I learned from this holiday season; how to pick up the pieces!  During the three weeks that constitute our holiday season (week before Christmas, week of New Years, and week after New Years) we lost approximately 144 man hours.  We also took around 50 more work orders per week than we normally would and had six apartments to get ready.  We got all this done and even a little more but certain areas suffered.  Our grounds received little attention, the shop looked like a tornado went through it, and we had lots of bulbs burned out on the property. Even though the ball was dropped on those few things I am very proud of all that was taken care of. We handled all the residents issues and had work orders completed within 12 hours, we turned out some great looking apartments, the property was decorated for Christmas, we had a balcony decoration contest that was a huge success, and we were even able to join our sister property for a holiday dinner. 

The last two weeks have been catching up on all those neglected items.  Sometimes it seems like it takes much longer to do projects when they have been neglected.  We spent a total of 24 man hours just replacing common area light bulbs!  During this time it is easy to look at the work load and get overwhelmed.  Take things one thing at a time, writing them down so we don't forget, and prioritize, prioritize, prioritize.  The priorities might have to be revisited every day to keep up with the changes our business presents.  Make sure you are easy going with your co-workers (there is enough stress, you don't need to bring in more!), and don't rush through projects (your bound to spend more time fixing stupid mistakes!).  Take each item, each hour, each screw, nail, light bulb at a time and don't get ahead of yourself.  It may seem like you are neglecting other things but as long as your priority list is in order you can be sure you are working on just what needs to be done at that time.  Most of all, be sure to have fun!  No matter what is going on you can always find some fun in what your doing.

Good luck picking up the pieces!