Mid-Life Crisises don't just happen at MID-LIFE anymore...bring back Mary POPPINS! by Daisy Nguyen

Do you feel the need to get more done? Do you have long to-do lists? Are you doing "stuff" but still can't get "anything" done?

If you answered "yes," you could be headed to a mid-life crisis. These things start small, and then they snowball....take for example:

I had a conversation with a woman yesterday that BLEW my mind. She's young, beautiful, smart (she's my "go-to" person when I need info), socially connected, socially conscious, and someone who gets STUFF done. I'm talking A LOT of stuff. She juggles a demanding job, participates in the local apartment association, fun/loving family woman, successful - one word AMAZING. (Let's call her Mary Poppins going forward.)

Mary Poppins said to me, "I need to find a way to get more done. I want to take a class on prioritizing and how to get more done." WHAT? I was so surprised. Get MORE done? MARY freaking POPPINS? WOW.

I recently took a class on MOLD. The one thing I learned in this class,  was this: Address the problem, not the symptom. So, in the mold case, the problem was moisture, and the symptom was mold. Treat the moisture problem and the mold will disappear.

For Mary, her sypmtoms included keeping long lists and feeling dissatisfied with all that she had done. As we talked more, I was able to uncover the real problem - lack of motivation.

We're not talking about the momentary lack of motivation where a simple PEP talk would cure you. We're talking about a full-blown lack of motivation. The kind that if left unaddressed, leads to a MID-LIFE CRISIS. The kind of crisis where you wonder who you are, why you're here, and why you gave up on your dreams. All the sudden, you buy a fast car, join a band and dye your hair pink - try to live the dream all in one fell swoop. This doesn't cure it either. Mid-Life Crisises don't just happen at mid-life. They can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. They take time to build up.

How do we address a lack of motivation before it becomes a full blown mid-life crisis? Before you quit your job and dye your hair pink?

In talking to Mary further, I found that in her attempt to get more done, she had cut out many of the things she  enjoyed - singing happy songs, painting as a creative outlet (she had always wanted to be an artists!), and yoga. In the time that she used to read books, paint and practice yoga, she replaced those with career oriented activities - meeting with MORE clients, analyzing traffic patterns, and learning about the widget building process (and how to turn widgets into socially conscious "green" widgets), the list goes on and on. FUN? NOT.

I encouraged Mary to treat herself - allow herself the outlets that she so desperately needed. Take a class on painting! Join a choir or singing club! Find a yoga group - not only practice yoga - but talk yoga! I promised her that is she did so, even 1 hour a week, she would find that she would be so much MORE motivated at work. (Let's bring the POPPINS back to Mary!)

I also encouraged her to find a way to bring those parts of her outlet to her career, if possible. Was there some way to intertwine yoga & the multi-family industry? Was there some way to intertwine her love of painting and her career? Could she start a singing club on site? How much happier would Mary be if she could?

Why do I mention this on a blog for the Multi-Family industry? Because Mary is not just one person, she is almost everyone person I meet in this industry. In the Apartment (multi-family) industry, it's serious business. So serious that many of us have sucked all the fun out of it and replaced it with 100% serious business 24/7. We've all gone from Mary POPPINS to plain Mary!

I think the opposite. The Multi-Family indsutry is one of the most exciting, most diverse, most fun industry I have ever and will ever participate in. There are TONS of avenues that we travel where we can bring the fun. WE are our own worst enemies- we have chosen to cut the fun out in order to make room for more work. Let's choose to bring the FUN back in.

When I was on-site, I once taught a cooking class, hosted off-the-hook FUN events (complete with aerialists, acrobats, and fire-slingers - email me if you don't believe me and I will send you a link to pictures!), hosted "neighborhood socials," had the oppotunity to pick out FABULOUS art for my community, hosted "jewelry" parties and fashion shows all in the name of WORK! Did my boss tell me to do these things? NO. Did I get in trouble for this? NO - in fact, my property won 5 MADACS awards for all the fun we had. My goal was to make the property successful. To do that, I brought the FUN to work. Here's a picture of us on our 5th award at MADACS gala. Looks like fun, huh?

In the Multi-family industry, I believe we have so much more opportunity to bring the FUN into our lives than most other industries. Whether you like to cook, network, party, admire art, wear jewelry, read books, juggle fire, play music, whatever tickles your fancy - YOU have a greater opportunity than many in other industries to bring THAT to work. Whether you are a site manager, leasing agent, maintenance man, bookkeeper, caretaker, vendor, service provider, you NAME it, YOU have the opportunity to bring IT to work. - then see how much you can get done! In the words of Disney's Mary Poppins, "A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down!"

What kind of FUN have your brought? Leave a comment and see how much fun we could all be having!

Don't Get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

Daisy Nguyen is owner and CEO of RENT SODA, a business and marketing consulting company. Become a FAN of RENTSODA, connect on LinkedIn, FOLLOW RENT SODA on Twitter, visit her website, RENT SODA, or read the blog, RENT SODA, Don't Get? GET IT! for more information and regular blog entries.