There's Never Time for the DMV (Yes Department of Motor Vehicles)

I usually don't do this because I know it hurts so bad. That's putting things off until the very last minute. But despite experience and my learned ways as a professional organizer and productivity consultant, I am still human and I still don't like going to the Department of Motor Vehicles aka DMV (or ironing...) these are things I'd rather not do. But I make myself do them, I plan for them.

Until I don't.

I rationalize it away (mistake number 1). "There are more important things to do than sit at the DMV for 2 hours". That's true...but...

I ignore it and conveniently forget to schedule a time to do it -- avoidance (mistake number 2).

I research the heck out of it. "There has to be a way I can do this online. .." (mistake number 3).

Then the day comes I can no longer wait. Well I could but I'd pay fines and get in trouble with the law and stuff. No bueno.

My mistakes catch up with me and my heart rate quickens and my breath shortens and I could kick myself for trying to SQUEEZE this dreaded task in my week when I could have done it weeks ago.

This rarely happens to me and if it didn't you'd have to check me for an on/off switch or a stick up my...(use your imagination).  We are all human we procrastinate things we hate to do. Which is why I have a job.

People hate organizing. They get overwhelmed by it. They are uneducated about it. It's too emotional and for goodness sakes they don't understand what to do with a few boxes /bags/closets/bins of STUFF. Clothes, paper, their time. It's emotional and it's overwhelming and we can be dumbfounded about it.

It's ok.

There is never time for the DMV. But, the reality is. You have to make time.

Andrea Hancock is a professional organizer, blogger, and speaker that assists and empowers busy professionals and business owners create and maintain organizational systems that work for them personally.  Andrea is also founder of Dexterous Organizing, a results-oriented professional organizing company.  To receive free productivity and organizing tools, or to venture into a more organized home, office, and life, click "I'm ready to get started!" at www.DexterousOrganizing.com or by phone at (703) 606-8968.

Making a mistake does not make you an idiot by Tina Bowers

Everyone makes mistakes. But it seems that everyone is also obsessed with making sure no one knows about them. Maybe it's time to take responsibility and earn respect. 

The Latin term mea culpa"means "through my fault." I have looked this term up online and I found it in my trusty hardcover Webster's dictionary. Nowhere did I see the term translated as, "I'm an idiot." Yet, that's what most people think will be inferred by others when they speak those words or any of their brethren like, "Sorry about that" or "I made a mistake."

Trust me when I tell you that many employees share this erroneous mindset (and you know who you are). Admitting fault is not a public acknowledgment that you are a worthless human being and should be fired immediately. Apologizing for an action you took that caused a problem for a coworker does not make you the office weakling and brand you with a scarlet letter. Making mistakes makes you human, and owning up to them earns you respect and maybe even renders you endearing.

However, never admitting responsibility for a mistake is an acknowledgment that you value your own "image" more than you do the welfare of your company. I wouldn't want you working for me.

If people spent as much time and energy acknowledging their mistakes as they do justifying their bad decisions and figuring out how to dodge responsibility, the world would be a much more productive place. You can be sure that the people who are unwilling to own up to their mistakes are the same ones who don't learn from those mistakes. And thus we have a never-ending cycle of denial and repeat.

I've started to see whole groups of people attempt to disguise responsibility as an entity unto itself. My pet peeve is the phrase, "Mistakes were made." As if the mistakes just formed out of mid-air with no human hand involved.

Speaking of that horrid phrase, two social psychologists, Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson look into how the brain is wired for self-justification in the book, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts Their observation is that we create fictions to absolve ourselves of any responsibility, "restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right-a belief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong."

Maybe we should all take a look at that book.

Do you find yourself justifying mistakes at work? Have you ever owned up a to a mistake and were you burned at the stake for it?

Toni Bowers is Managing Editor of TechRepublic and is the award-winning blogger of the Career Management blog. She has edited newsletters, books, and web sites pertaining to software, IT career, and IT management issues. Follow her on Twitter @tbowers928