When stressed, write down your worries

I wish I could remember who taught me this….but when I get totally overwhelmed and confused….I have trained myself to take a deep breath and write everything down….prioritize it..

Keeping customers happy – sometimes I freak out that maybe customer service isn’t good, or quality of a product is going to be an issue. These can be controlled, and I have to be more confident on the systems put in place. And if there isn’t a system, GET ONE SETUP.

Bad laptop – my laptop has been acting up….mouse is sticking, I just have to suck it up a while and buy a new one! stupid reason to be worried / stressed. But annoying.

No couch / comfort , place of home – I don’t even have a couch, or watch TV, anywhere. I never really wind down. I am constantly on the road….and seems I don’t really even have a place to call home. I don’t know how to exactly fix this, maybe just accept it.

Tired of chinese censorship (GFW – great firewall) – man, it just gets soo annoying, another system I was using was blocked last week, dropbox.com – its a cloud computing system I use to sync my laptop and desktop to a remote server. Its great, and I recommend it for everyone! But now in China, I have to work around it…just like twitter, facebook, and other tools I use….

Too many freelancers – I have to better manage freelancers and part time people. I just get swamped with emails from multiple online platforms, chats, direct emails. I have to be more clear with what I want, EXACTLY what I want. but then again, I don’t get anyone giving me input or ideas. Seems I have to have the idea, the concept, the layout, and then make it so clear to understand…

supply chain -such a freaking headache….multiple warehouses, customs clearance – net30 payment terms from some, cash flow management, production planning. International payments China, thailand, philippines, hong kong, USa , UK. And again, it seems to always escalate to my email box…..backorders, customer threats…..aha, another day, another dollar.

Standard procedures, milestones, KPI (key performance indicators) – I really suck at this, and always thought someone else would come in and prepare it for me….but I have to do it. I have to make a plan, milestones, and push people to reach them. Reward properly those who get there, and find ways to motivate others to get better and get it done.

Anyway, I don’t mean to complain, we need to identify our issues and work towards solving them. Writing these down has made me feel better (well…actually kinda scary) But at least I have done it. I think we should all take time to do this, as ideas spinning in our head aren’t anything.