Fashion Career Expert: Maria Pesin

Murphy’s Law Strikes Again!!

Murphy is a son of gun!! Just when you think things are all arranged he throws a wrench into the mix.

I have been talking about business travel these last few days because I have a big trip coming up. My plan is to fly to China for about 10 days, then fly to LA for a meeting, than come home to NY. This trip is kind of last minute so getting plane tickets and Visas has been kind of a hassle. Several times I thought this trip wouldn’t happen. Finally all is done and I have everything I need to go. So what does Murphy do?

He get’s my assistant a new job (with advancement and a pay increase) and my assistant gives her 2 week notice 4 days before I am due to leave. Her last day is while I am away.

This means I won’t have back up in the office the whole time I am away and I won’t be able to find her replacement till I get back. This stinks and I spend the day feeling sorry for myself. However, that will do me no good so I pick myself up, brush myself off and come up with a plan. I will have a coworker interview people while I am away and narrow it down to 3 people. This way when I come back I can interview them pick one and have them start right away.

So what is the moral of the story? There will always be challenges and problems that come up at your job. Handle them quickly and decisively and your problem solving muscle will be strong.

You Can’t Achieve Your Goals If Your Life’s A Mess

I know that having incompletes in my life drains energy from me. An incomplete to me means an aspect of my life that is not the way I want it. That could mean having too much debt, being late on a gift I need to send, being overweight, or just not having completed a project that is way behind. The more disorder you have the harder it is to be proactive. You need to be proactive in order to achieve the goals you have in your life.

The first step is to clean up as much as you can. You don’t realize how incompletes stop you until they go away. When you clear up something don’t you breath a sigh of relief? A therapist once told me to spend 10 minutes a day cleaning out a closet or drawer. He said to keep doing it till my house is organized. The practice helps take away stress but it also makes you feel as if you have more control. Make a list of all the incompletes in your life. You can have can have 100 or you can have 10. Write down everything that bothers you. Even if it is just a shoe that needs a new sole. Then number them in the order that you would like to tackle them. Don’t just give the highest number to the really big ones. Sprinkle in some easy ones too. This way you have some quick successes along the way. Then attack the list. You will be amazed at how it transforms your life.

The Magic Of Self Discipline - Part II

Yesterday my teenage daughter made a plate of chocolate chip cookies. You know the kind. The ones that are soft and gooey with tons of chocolate chips. This is a weakness of mine (along with a few others). But as I said yesterday in my blog I am trying really hard to just say no. Every time I passed that plate of cookies I thought, well maybe just one. But, I know me, just one will turn into just two, and then just three, till I finish the plate. So I just said no and every time I did I visualized my goal of being thin. I saw myself in my minds eye at my goal weight., and I never ate the cookie.

That is the magic of self discipline. If you know what your goal is and you consistently take action steps to getting there you will most definitely arrive. So if you think that promotion is impossible or the job you want is out of your reach figure out what steps you need to get there and by doing these steps you will surely get your hearts desire. The magic is in doing the steps even when you are tired, discouraged, or just plain don’t want to. Yet you just do it one step at a time and sure enough you reach your goal.