Tuesday’s Tip: Travel Paper Folder

We have done more than our fair share of traveling. When you are going to another country there is always a certain amount of paperwork you have to take with you. When you are traveling with a pet you have even more requirements.

Years ago, we started a folder for Travel documents that has everything we might need for traveling. If a copy might work, we have several copies in the folder ready to go. That way when we decide to take a trip, we have one place to go for everything we might need including, copies of our birth certificates, marriage license, passports, dog’s immunization records, etc.

Having everything in one place has saved us many hours because we don’t have to think about each individual item and where we keep it. Everything we might need is in one place so we are always prepared with anything immigration might ask for.

Paper that wants to be Shredded

Someone sent me this video of paper that wants to be shredded.

It reminded me of a client of mine. I was coming in to do some consulting so I asked for a copy of their organizational chart to get a better idea of how everything was organized. I carried it around with me throughout their facility for about a week as a reference. Often I’d set it down on a table or desk while talking with an employee.

When I really started looking at it in detail, I discovered that it had the salaries of all the executive level staff penciled in under their names! While it wasn’t a problem for me to know their salaries, they should have at least warned me about the additional information.

The Child Who Has Everything

On the front page of Amazon I saw a list of items that said they were for “the child who had everything”. While there were some very interesting toys, I got to thinking about that designation. It definitely isn’t how I want my child described.

Every parent wants to give their kids nice things and most parents try to give their kids things that they didn’t have growing up. This isn’t always a good thing. I’m not saying it is a bad idea to help your kids obtain a better education than what you received, but when the only thing your kid doesn’t have is a $10,000 replica space suit you’ve got to question how well you are preparing them for the real world.

A lot of my views on money were shaped by the fact that my parents weren’t wealthy. In fact we were probably living below the poverty line (although we didn’t realize it). They provided everything we needed, but we didn’t even think about asking them to buy us “extras”. When I wanted a camera for a high school photography class, I worked and saved until I had the money to buy it. When I wanted a laptop I did the same thing. My parents taught me to focus on opportunity instead of lack.

Since most of the money I was spending was my own hard earned cash, I was much more careful about how it was spent. I still tend to do this today–sometimes to a fault. (How much time should you really spend trying to pick out the best $0.97 toothbrush?)

My parents provided the opportunity to work, so we could get the things we wanted. As soon as I was able to drive at 14, my brother and I started using family truck, lawnmower, and weed eater to earn money during the summers. We didn’t get paid for doing our own lawn–that was just part of being in the family. But there were always plenty of other people who needed their lawns mowed.

My parents provided us with the support and encouragement to work hard. No one would have described us as  “kids who had everything”, but what my parents gave us was much more valuable.

Tuesday’s Tip: Get a Good Pen

This may seem trivial and not even worth mentioning, but I think it is important. Your performance is related to how comfortable you are with your tools. Even if you spend most of your time on the computer, a good writing instrument is a necessary tool for getting work done.

Since you have to use a pen, you might as well get one that you like. This doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a $50 ink pen (especially if you tend to lose them), but put a little thought into getting pens that you actually enjoy using. It is a small thing, but the happier you are the better your productivity.

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