May 2019 - 24

Dirty Secrets
* Before you jump on an opportunity now, you screen it first
to see if it needlessly complicates your life, no matter how
great it is.
* The feeling of excitement you've previously gotten from
over-complication and stress becomes distasteful and
you easily avoid stirring them up again.
* You spend less money.
* You have much less (stuff, backstock, human drama) to
manage and more free time.
* You have a lot more emotional, physical and intellectual
space to make room for fun things on the sales floor
(spontaneous silly videos, goofy gags, learning
new sales techniques, true customer care)!
* Successes come more quickly because you have
made the room for them!
Top Ways to Simplify Everything
1. Reduce errand running wherever possible. Think
about how much of your energy and attention
goes into some of those details. If you were to pay
someone hourly to do them, how much would it
be worth? Think of it with regard to the 80/20
rule. Is your personal hourly rate (whatever you
think that should be, $75 per hour is mine) worth
losing for only a 20 percent return?
π
STORAGE SOLUTIONS
2. Consider hiring a virtual assistant. Anyone
can do this with technology making it faster
and easier than ever. Imagine the tasks you can
outsource. It's limitless and quite affordable
compared to my own time.
3. Automate as many tasks as possible. Many
of you do this by virtue of various software
programs, etc., that we have access to now but
think out of the box on this one. Where else can
you automate to give you more space and time?
Space isn't an add-on luxury to your evolution;
it's a necessity.
4. Set reminders! My phone background and alarms
set throughout the day are my new favorite tool;
even apps are helpful to keep us from processing
too many silly pieces of paper or lists. Try setting
a reminder for you to simply re-enforce a simple
idea or positive mantra, so that when you hear
the chime, it becomes automatic that you stop
and breathe for a second.
ORDER BY 6 PM FOR
SAME DAY SHIPPING
COMPLETE CATALOG
1-800-295-5510
Circle 111
24 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | MAY 2019
5. Eliminate enough projects, promises and
plans until you feel the creative space come
back. We have more choices and decisions to
make in a single day now than our grandparents
had in a week! How can you possibly be called
on to create, sell, organize, design, run a
business and a side business, work on selfdevelopment,
advance your education, travel,
have hobbies, and enjoy entertainment when
there's no space. Before you embark on your
to-do list today, a project or a commitment,
stop and ask yourself: " Self? Is this thing I'm
about to do as important to my happiness,
productivity and well-being than the new XYZ
interest could possibly be? "
6. Clean out your backroom, office, car and
closets. This one might sound obvious, and
it's often the project of last resort when we're
lacking something to do in January at the garden
center, if you're even open. But it's about being
able to mess with the energy and symbolic
importance of our stuff. I'm always telling groups
in my talks that the best way to sell something
that isn't moving is to park it smack in the
middle of a busy thoroughfare with a big ol'
SOLD sign on it. You have changed the energy of
the " thing. " You will automatically create desire
for it because it looks irresistible. The same is
true for your dusty old storage closets and
backrooms in the garden center. I guarantee
you will be asking why you ever kept half of
that stuff. Think of it like a good pruning. The
plant gets a surge of hormones and grows better
because it can!
You might not be able to reach this place of
" space, " but for creatives in a fast-paced business
like ours, it's a worthy thing to define what it might
mean to tweak your various strategies for survival,
not to mention thriving, just a hair during this
season. Is it your actual life that needs simplifying
or your lifestyle?
The litmus test is that your lifestyle should
enhance your life rather than spending your life
enhancing your lifestyle.
Christina Salwitz, the Personal Garden Coach, is a
container designer, public speaker, horticultural guidance
counselor, service provider for The Garden Center Group
and photojournalist based in Renton, Washington. She
can be reached at: personalgardencoach@comcast.net.
May 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2019
