Debra Moorhead . com

A couple of nights ago as we were sitting down to dinner, my husband and I both jumped up at the same time to turn off the oven timer that was still beeping every 60 seconds.  I had to laugh at the situation because we almost bumped heads getting to it.  It reminded me how much the two of us have in common.

Then I went on to think about how often people in long-term relationships of all kinds fail to focus on what they share in common.  Instead, they focus on their differences until, all too often, those differences become irreconcilable.

For example, let’s examine the dynamic relationship of two co-workers in a dental office.  When they meet, everything starts out great.  They find out they share many similar likes and dislikes, they had similar upbringings, they live in similar neighborhoods, they have similar lives.  But after a few weeks, their differences start to surface.  The two have conflicting opinions about this, that, and the other.  What happens next? 

Frequently, the relationship becomes strained because we refuse to go beyond the focus of ourselves and our own needs.  If we would realize that everyone in this world is alike in many ways and different in many ways, and that it is those similarities and differences that draw us together in the first place, we would experience much greater harmony in every aspect of our lives.

People who have difficulty getting along with others usually have developed a bad habit of choosing to focus on their dissimilarities with everyone in their lives and everyone they meet.  The good news is that bad habits can be changed.  It requires effort and self-discipline, but it can be done.

So how do you go about changing this habit if you know you are guilty of it?  First, surround yourself with people who do get along well with others and have successful relationships.  Observe what they do (how they interact with others) and how they think.  What you will find is that these people choose to focus on what they have in common with others, and view differences as unique opportunities to either open their minds, or open the minds of others.  People who get along with others realize that there is always more than one right way for doing just about everything.  More importantly, they don’t feel that everyone in the world should be just like them.

Let me give you another personal example.  My husband and I get along really well.  Do we agree on everything?  No.  I’m a Republican; he’s a democrat.  Actually, he’s “an independent,” which to me is nothing; if you’re not a Republican, you’re a democrat, there is nothing else – but that’s another blog.  We disagree on plenty of issues, but agree on many more.  Do I think he should be more like me and vice versa?  Sometimes, but not ultimately.  We each have our own set of strengths and weaknesses and luckily seem to realize those in each other.  But here’s my point:  If we chose to focus on the things in which we disagree, we could fight constantly. 

If you were a Seinfeld fan, recall for a moment George’s parents:  Two characters who were relentlessly picking on each others’ faults.  Although the show writers exaggerated the relationship for the purpose of effect, we all know people and couples who interact this way.  That’s why the dynamic was created for the show in the first place – to poke fun at this type of people.  Watch a rerun of The Jeffersons sometime and you’ll really see this point!  Situation comedies mimic, in an exaggerated way, real life. 

When you catch yourself behaving like a sitcom character, stop!  Change your behavior to change your thinking and change your thinking to change your behavior.  You have to approach this from both the mental and behavioral angles.  When you catch yourself looking for yet another way in which you don’t agree with someone, stop!  Think to yourself instead, “What do we have in common?”  Then ask a question about that.  It could go something like this:

You have two children and she has two children.  You ask, “How are Bobby and Susie doing in school?”  She shares with you that one child is struggling with something.  You respond with, “You know, my Erin had that same problem last year.  Why don’t we have coffee after work and I’ll tell you what we did to help her with that?”

Bam – you’re relationship with this person is back on track.

Try something like this with your spouse:  When he or she shares with you that they’re too tired to fix supper, instead of your usual, “You’re always tired.  You need to start taking vitamins or exercising or something.”  Say instead, “I can understand that, I’m tired after working all day too.  Why don’t we order a pizza tonight?” 

Yes, you have to put forth a little effort; but isn’t a successful relationship worth it?

Thanks for reading today.  I’d love to hear from you.  What ways have you found to get along with others?  You can comment by clicking the “No Comments” link below.

In 1897, an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed a pattern in the distribution of wealth among citizens no matter the country or time period concerned.  He found that the distribution was extremely skewed toward one end:  A small minority of earners always accounted for a large majority of the total wealth.  Pareto’s theory was tested, forgotten, revived, proven, and eventually adopted in the United States and Europe during the 1960’s as the “80/20 rule.”

The 80/20 principle has been applied to many disciplines and basically states this:  80 percent of results come from 20 percent of effort.  While the formula is not 100 percent accurate, it is amazingly close and I have read many examples where it was dead on.  In dentistry, I often talk about “Top 20 patients.”  This refers to that 20 percent or so of patients who are responsible for approximately 80 percent of the practice’s revenue for a given year.   Any business can apply this principle to just about any area of that business.  Eighty percent of the work is completed by twenty percent of the workers.  Eighty percent of your inventory comes from twenty percent of your suppliers. As an average individual, 80% of your productivity, comes from 20% of your time.  Take a minute to think about that.  The average worker, 80% of us, spends 8 hours per day on the job, but less than two hours of that is productive time!   You’d be surprised at how many small business owners I share that statistic with and get the response, “Tell me something I don’t know!” 

So how can you become one of the 20% of individuals who accounts for 80% of all success?  Identify what you do best, what makes you the most productive, and what provides the greatest value to you and/or your organization.  What are those tasks?  Now identify the tasks you do that could be performed, probably even better, by someone else.  Are there some things that could be eliminated completely?

I find that a lot of companies have employees doing things just because “we’ve always done it that way.”  We maintain the status quo when we could be setting records because our people are spinning their wheels in low productivity, time-consuming, practically worthless tasks.  When we allow people to focus on their top 20 contributions, their creativity is spurred and we start innovating in our industry.  A company is only as strong as it’s people.  This is true whether you are a small business owner working alone, or a Fortune 500 company.

For an in-depth study on how to become more effective and productive, check out Richard Koch’s Living the 80/20 Way.

“Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone.”  – Louis L’Amour, author

I Googled “Time Management” just now and up popped “results 1 – 10 of about 680,000,000.”  No kidding – try it. 

See?  There are probably more by now. Or less.

Why do some people spend enormous amounts of time trying to manage their time when others  just don’t care?

I have to admit, I’m a workaholic, especially now that I work mostly from home.  I will also freely admit that I am one of those people who believes in planning.  I have a strategic plan for my business, one overall guiding mission statement for my life, long-term goals, 5-year goals, annual goals, quarterly goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, and daily goals.  Sometimes I even set hourly goals and goals for the next 15 minutes.  I am constantly monitoring and attempting to manage my time in order to do the things required to accomplish my goals.  I want to get the most out of each hour and every day.  I like that feeling at the end of the day when even through interruptions and obstacles, I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do and know that I did everything well – to the best of my ability – excellently.  I own 29 books on time management and have read them all – more than once.  I own a Franklin planner and could teach all of the Franklin-Covey courses.  What I’d like to share with you today is the one trick that I have found that works more than any other time management trick or technique I’ve tried and that is the concept of focus.

Most of the really important work we do requires large chunks of time to complete.  For example, writing a blog post takes me about 90 minutes, while working on my website can take several hours.  If I block out 90 minutes for writing a blog post, I’ll get one post written.  But if I block 3 hours and can work for that three hours uninterrupted, I can often get three posts written instead of just two.  Once I get into “writing mode,” it’s easier to just keep going. 

Working on my website is very time consuming for me because I am just starting to learn coding.  Every time I start working, I have to re-learn what I learned the last time.  Sure, it doesn’t take as long to review, but it does take time, sometimes an entire day.  It also takes my brain longer to get into the task because coding is not as natural to me as writing. 

There are two key factors in being able to implement chunking and making it work.  The first is knowing how long it takes to complete certain tasks, the other is planning.  Then, you must be flexible and realize that things are going to come up unexpectedly, and you’ll have to readjust your schedule or plan differently next time.  And that’s exactly what you do – you change your plans, but continue to allow time for all the things you want to accomplish.  As Mark Victor Hansen explains it, the plan is nothing because the plan changes once you’re into execution, but planning is everything.  This brings new meaning to the old adage, “Plan your work and work your plan,” doesn’t it?

Now, of course, you’ll need to take breaks and there will be times when you simply can’t ignore an interruption.  But when you’re constantly trying to multi-task, you’ll accomplish much less in the end that you would if you had chunked your time, focusing on one objective at a time. So when you start a job, stick with it until it is finished.  You’ll be glad you did.

The term, “multi-tasking” by the way, is a computer term that was never supposed to be applied to humans.  Our brains “multi-task” enough as it is.  We can be doing one task while thinking about another.  As someone who has been around computers for 25 years, I can remember when the goal was to get computers to be as efficient as the human brain.  Nowadays, we think it’s cool if our brains can think like a computer.  What a paradigm shift!  But it’s a false paradigm – so forget about multi-tasking – that’s for your computer only.
Psychologists tell us we need to resolve issues from our past by “re-living” the experience and handling it differently.  Motivational gurus tell us to live for the future and forget about the past.  In reality, you are never in the past or the future.  You exist only in the present moment.  Even when you remember the past or envision the future, you’re still thinking those thoughts in the present.  All you really have is right now.  And that’s all you ever will have.  We are not promised tomorrow.  You can’t control the passage of time, but you can control your present moment focus.  That’s all.  No past.  No future.  Just right now.  But the best way to control your present moment focus is to have planned ahead what you’re going to focus on.  It is also important to reflect on the past with regard to what worked for you and what didn’t.  Reflecting on past successes and failures helps us to better plan our futures, right now.
For those people who never try to manage their time and don’t get what all the fuss is about, I’d like to share this analogy.

When I was a kid, I loved to play the game Monopoly.  My brother, who is six years older than I am always thought of playing with me as a chore, so I didn’t get to play very often.  My Dad would sometimes play the game with me, but he always let me win and I knew it, so it wasn’t as much fun.  My brother always won – mostly because he cheated.  He won’t admit to it to this day, but I know he did.  One Sunday night after church, he agreed to play.  I was 10 years old and he was 16.  I was finally old enough to read and understand the rules for myself so he couldn’t cheat anymore, and I started winning.  I owned all three railroads, Boardwalk, and had a hotel on Park Place.  I was finally going to win! At 9:30, my father came in, folded the game up and said, “Game’s over – it’s time for bed.”  I was shocked – and not ready to quit.

“But I was winning!” I tried reasoning with my father to try to get him to reconsider as my brother laughed.  “You can finish it tomorrow,” was my father’s reply as he put the game back into the box.  There was no reasoning with my father, especially over a game or extending bedtime.  My brother was never brave enough to finish that game with me, but I felt a sense of accomplishment just in getting as far as I did.

My friends, one of these days, I don’t know when, my Heavenly Father is going to close up my game and make me quit.  And just like that Sunday night when I was 10, I will be shocked, and I won’t be ready to quit.  But knowing that I have spent each day, each hour, and each minute learning the rules of the game, doing the best I can, and playing full out in spite of adversity will bring me a final sense of accomplishment.  And that’s all I’m hoping for. 

Thanks for reading today.  I’d love to hear from you.  You can comment by clicking the “No comments” link below, or by e-mailing me directly.

My husband and I are remodeling our front door area.  The contractor called last week and said he could start today.  The only problem is that we put off purchasing a new door because we couldn’t decide on a style.  Now all of a sudden the style doesn’t matter anymore, we will settle for whatever is in stock at a local lumber dealer.

So I started calling around at 9 AM (Monday) to find out what local merchants had in stock and if they could satisfy the requests of my contractor.  He was nice enough to give us some tips on how to buy a door that would look great but save us some money.  When I asked the people answering the phone at two separate dealers if they could meet my guidelines, the general answer was, “No, we can’t do that.”  When I got the third merchant on the phone, the lady who answered did not have solutions immediately available, but her tone was pleasant, and she seemed happy to pass my inquiries on without making me feel like I was a bother.  The final reply was, in a very pleasant and confident tone, “Just come on in and pick out what you want and we’ll get it for you by the time you need it.”

While the lady on the phone didn’t have all the answers, she and someone else who worked there had a “can do” attitude.  Because of this, I drove 35 miles to their location, picked out my doors, and they will be here on Thursday morning – exactly when my contractor needs them.  I didn’t ask about the costs, but to my delight, both the front door and storm door were less expensive than what I had priced elsewhere.  But it really would not have mattered about the cost, because I needed them now and these were the only people willing to work with me.  Will they get repeat business from me? Absolutely.

How does this apply to your business?  In dentistry, we often have to tell people, “No, we can’t do that” because many requests are quite out of reason.  We can, however, explain to the patient why we can’t do it their way and how we can meet their needs.  When I make secret shopper calls for a client, I am always checking for the attitude of the person answering the phone because that attitude reflects the real capability of the dentist.  Let me give you an example.

One of my secret shopper questions is, “I was just eating lunch and had a tooth break off.  It’s very sensitive; can Dr. Smith see me today?”   What’s the usual response that I get?  “Have you been a patient here before?”  Would someone please explain to me what that has to do with today’s schedule!  While I appreciate the fact that the scheduling coordinator is trying to gain control of the conversation by asking a question, wouldn’t a better question be, “Can you be here at 3 o’clock?” 

If the schedule is already overbooked for today, try saying, “No, but I can get you in first thing tomorrow morning.  Do you think you can put up with the sensitivity until then?”  At this point, you follow the conversation and start asking the questions you need to like: is this an existing patient?  Because if so, the doctor can probably phone in a prescription to get them through the night if they’re in pain.  Is this a Top 20 patient?  If so, the doctor might want to stay late to work on him or her.  You know your office rules, but the patients don’t.  Instead of trying to educate them on your office policy, why not give the impression that you office can handle any situation.

That’s what I mean by the attitude of the person answering the phone reflects the dentist’s capability.  If you have to know who I am and make me jump through 40 hoops just to find out that you don’t have an appointment available for two weeks, you’re not scheduling effectively and it makes me wonder about your dentistry – is it effective?

In offices where the dentist is up-to-date and the team is well-trained, they can handle not only what is on their schedule for that day, but anyone who calls in as well.  And while there may be times when a patient calls too late to get in today, we can certainly get them in tomorrow. 

In my training sessions, this is the point where I would normally have the team break up into groups of two to three and brainstorm ideas on how they can change into a “Can do” practice.  I’d love to hear from you.  What are you struggling with?  What has to change in your business before everyone can adopt, “Can do”?

Mark Victor Hansen defines “TEAM” as “Together Everyone Accomplishes Miracles.” 

Last week I wrote about the Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team.  Let’s take a look at how a great team works together to accomplish miracles, and interacts with one another to maintain peace and harmony among the group.

1. In fully functional, highly productive dental teams, each member behaves professionally at all times.  She knows that if someone hurts her feelings it was probably unintentional and gives that person the benefit of the doubt until she can address the situation in private.

2. Team members have and outwardly show compassion for one another.  If someone is having a bad day or gets behind, everyone chips in and does whatever is necessary to keep the dentist and the patients happy.

3. Team members trust each other, and make certain they can be trusted.  If asked to do something they are uncomfortable with, they make it known immediately, explaining why the discomfort exists, and what they are willing to do instead.  They make these feelings known as politely as possible to show compassion and trust, and to exhibit professionalism.

4. Team members truly care about the practice and the patients that support it.  They understand that the patient is their real boss and make special effort to make the patients comfortable.  They are attentive to the patient at all times and know that patient education is imperative to a successful practice.

5. Members of functional dental teams have self-respect as well as respect for others.  If they sense a problem in this area, they confront it on their own time and with their own resources.  They seek help for their own issues, and confront issues with other team members or the dentist in order to eliminate problems in this area.

6. Great teams come to work with the attitude that the only thing that matters for the next 8-9 hours is accomplishing today’s goal – whatever that is.  Everything else can be dealt with after 5:30.  These team members appreciate having something to focus on other than their personal problems, that also allows them to contribute to their community and make a living in the process.

Great dental teams know that if they focus on the results they want, they will achieve the results they want; interpersonal problems disappear because there is no reward for them anymore.  Rewards follow miracles.

Questions?   Comments?  I’d love to hear from anyone with any experience in this area.

Related Posts:

Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team, Part One

Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team, Part Two

Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team, Part Three

Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team, Part Four

Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team, Part Five

Six Dysfunctions of the Dental Team, Part Six

Some think success requires talent, some think it takes hard work.  I believe both are required along with confidence, determination, passion for what you’re doing, and the discipline to bring all these things together.  I’ll leave you today with this quote from Muhammad Ali.

“I had it in my heart. I believed in myself, and I had confidence. I knew how to do it, had natural talent and I pursued it.”

So you’ve been away at college for what?  About six weeks now?  If you haven’t taken the time already, it’s definitely time to clean up the grime.  It’s amazing how quickly dust and dirt can accumulate and if you don’t get a handle on it, it will escalate exponentially.  The feeling of a clean room clears the mind and makes you feel like you can breathe again.  So turn up whatever music inspires you, ‘cause here we go, step-by-step.

1.  Round up some cleaning supplies.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money here and a little goes a long way.  You’re basically going to need an all-purpose cleaner, a roll of paper towels, and a broom.  Some toilet bowl cleaner would be nice, but not necessary – I’ll explain later.  Some micro-fiber cleaning cloths would be nice, but also not necessary.  Lysol, glass cleaner for the mirrors and pledge for any wood or woodwork would be nice luxuries, as would a mop and bucket.  If you have dishes in your room, you probably already have dish detergent, we can use that too in a pinch.  Beg and borrow, but don’t steal, as many of these items from others on your floor as you can, but be prepared to return the favor if need be.  In most of the dorms I resided, we had a “dorm mother” who was basically a cleaning lady who kept the common areas clean.  Be nice to her and she will probably give you some supplies, and might even come in and help you. 

If I were going out to buy these items and had to start with nothing, I’d buy: A good broom, a large can of Lysol, all-purpose cleaner in a spray bottle, (aka – glass and surface cleaner), 2-3 rolls of generic paper towels, two micro-fiber cloths, a scrubber sponge, a laundry brush, some toilet bowl cleaner and a toilet bowl brush.  Hopefully, you’ve been using trash bags, but if necessary, I’d buy those too. Got all that?  Good. Let’s start cleaning.

2. Start at the top and work your way down.  Check your ceiling - especially the corners.  Any cobwebs?  If there are, take your broom and knock down those cobwebs.  If there is any dust on the ceiling, get it with the broom as well.  Don’t worry too much about where it falls – we’re going to clean everywhere, but try to not let if fall like – in your roommate’s breakfast!

3.  Next, go around the walls.  Just really quick -  no, I’m not kidding.  Dust and dirt accumulate everywhere but this won’t take long.  If you have any windows in your room, chances are there is some dust hiding in those corners as well.  Again, go from top to bottom and get rid of any dirt you see.  You can use a damp paper towel for this; wet it with either your all-purpose cleaner, or just some water.

4.  Now it’s time to work on your furniture.  Wipe down the head and foot boards of you bed.  Remove everything from your desk and wipe it down.  If it were me, I’d do the same with my roommates desks as well – just be careful with their belongings and, of course, respect their privacy.  They shouldn’t mind your cleaning; my roommates always helped me.  For this project, again, use plain water or your all-purpose cleaner.  If you have any wood furniture, use either a wood cleaner and polish, like Pledge, or use a damp cloth and go back and dry.  You need a damp cloth to really get the dust, but don’t leave any dampness on wood.

5.  If you haven’t done so already, this would be a great day to remove your bed sheets and wash them.  Wash everything that is washable – including comforter or bedspread.  Check the care labels to find out.  If anything is “Dry clean only,” it can probably wait until the end of the semester.  If you have any spills or stains on a dry clean only item, you will need a special spot remover and a brush to remove them.  That means a little extra work and money, but it is probably cleanable.  In the meantime, just “air” the item by flipping it inside out, or upside down, as flat as possible.  If you have bunk beds, you can hang something like a quilt or comforter over the edge to let it air.  If everyone is cleaning together, you can probably get everyone’s sheets in one load to share costs.  Don’t overload the washer, though.  You’ll just end up with a sticky mess of sheets and detergent if you do.  If there are four people in your room, you might have to settle for two sets of sheets per load.  It all depends upon the washing machines you are using.  By the way, when I was at Morehead State, I learned that taking my clothes to the Laundromat downtown was actually cheaper than using the pay-machines in the dorm.  It was also faster, and I could count on getting enough washers.  So if your dorm isn’t working, try somewhere else in town if you have transportation.   A side note on airing – open the windows to your room if you can.  Fresh air – even if it’s a little chilly – will make everything seem fresher than just cleaning alone. But do what you can.

6.  Moving on to the bathroom now.  If you have a cloth shower curtain, it too should be removed and washed in a washing machine.  If you just have one of those plastic shower curtain liners, it can be laundered, but is probably just as easy to spray it with your all-purpose cleaner, let it sit for about 5 minutes, then wipe it down.  If you and your roommates are using one of those bathroom cleaners that you spray every time you shower, you’re probably in good shape here.  If not, you’ll need to spray your shower stall, tub, faucet fixtures, shower head, basically everything with that all-purpose cleaner and wipe it down.  Follow the instructions for your cleaner, most say to rinse, then wipe dry – but do whatever they say. Run a damp paper towel over the shower curtain bar to get any dust or grime off of it.  The all-purpose cleaner can also be used on the toilet; wipe it down completely on the outside, pour some cleaner on the inside and let it sit for a while – as long as possible if you don’t have a toilet brush.  Be sure to raise the seat and clean the underside and all around the rim as well.  (If this is the first time you’ve ever cleaned the rim of a toilet seat, congratulations, you are now an adult!)  Now sweep the floor to get the dust out, mop if you have a mop, (for specific instructions on how to mop – see number 9 below), but if you don’t, use your all-purpose cleaner again.  See, it really is all-purpose!  You can also wait on the floor until you are ready to do the entire room if you want – it’s up to you.  The last thing I would do in the bathroom is, if I had Lysol, I would spray the entire room down with it and let it air out, including the floor.  Directions are on the can, but you basically wet the surface you want to clean and let it dry for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, if everything is not dry, just wipe it up, or let it sit a little longer.  By the way, Lysol spray kills viruses, bacteria, fungi and germs.  Chlorine bleach does too, for the most part, but is much more difficult to use.  You do not need any chlorine bleach for cleaning your dorm room unless you or one of your roommates is HIV positive.  If that is the case, please e-mail me so we can discuss what to do.

7.  Most dorm rooms have a separate area for sinks, mirrors, and getting ready in the morning.  Let’s look at that area next.  Again, remove everything from around the sinks and the shelving.  Working from top to bottom, clean the mirrors first, then the countertops, then the sinks.  Here’s how.  If you have the luxury of two micro-fiber cloths, just wet one of them with water and wring it out. Use it to clean the mirror, stopping to scrub any stubborn spots.  When the cloths are new, you can sometimes get by with just letting the mirror air dry.  My mirrors are spotless after I clean them this way.  If you have streaks, go back with your dry micro-fiber cloth and rub them out.  You’ll be able to tell when they are clean.  You are not supposed to use any harsh chemical detergents on micro-fiber, but sometimes it can’t be avoided and you can’t control what other people do.  Next, use your all-purpose cleaner to clean the countertops, shelving, sink basins, and faucets. Or use the damp micro-fiber cloth and no cleaner.  Either way, go back over the entire area with your Lysol.  Spray the area down, let it air dry. (Again, 10 minutes.)  Put everything back, cleaning each item as you go.  This doesn’t take long and helps keep everything dust-free longer.  Dust attracts dust, so get rid of any little speck you see when you do these deep cleanings.

8.  Now that you have clean surfaces to work on, gather up all glasses and dishes, wash and dry them, and put them away.  Clean out the microwave; take the base plate out and clean it like you would a regulate dish, wipe the top, bottom, sides and door until they are spotless.  Your all-purpose cleaner will work, as will dish detergent.  This is where you might need that scrubber sponge.

9.  If I’ve left out any other areas, get them next. Otherwise, we’re ready to do the floors.  If you have carpet, I hope you have a vacuum cleaner and have been using it regularly.  High-traffic areas should be vacuumed every day or as close to that as possible. Vacuum all areas once a week.  Keep the vacuum handy so that it’s easy to do.  Be sure to get any items out from under your bed and deal with them; dust it off, pour it out, throw it out, whatever needs to be done.  My senior year, I had a roommate who was so clean she was inspiring.  One Saturday when we were cleaning though, she checked under her bed and found a science experiment!  It seemed she had a glass of Pepsi one night and fell asleep before finishing it.  The next morning when she made her bed, she felt she didn’t have time to deal with it, so she stuck it under her bed to deal with later.  Obviously, she forgot about it until we were deep cleaning.  I’ve never seen that much mold outside of a science experiment in my life.  It’s a wonder we weren’t all sick.  Luckily, we kept everything pretty clean, used our Lysol regularly, and found it after a couple of weeks. 

If you have a concrete floor with rugs, take the rugs outside and shake them out.  If you have a laundry brush, that would be nice to use as well. Use the brush to get out spots and stains.  You can use dish detergent for this, but if you can splurge on rug and carpet cleaner – even better.  Do what you can.  While the rugs are airing, or if you don’t have rugs, sweep the floor starting in the corners working toward the center. Working with one section at a time, pull the broom toward you and collect the dust and dirt in one common area.  I like to gather up the accumulating dust as I go, but you can wait until you’ve swept the entire floor if you want.  The most effective way to pick up floor dust is with a wet paper towel.  Dustpans are okay, but there’s always that little bit you just can’t get or you fight with.  Wet paper towels get it all.  The new Swiffer products for floors are awesome, wet or dry, but you have to use them frequently or they gunk up.  Of course, the Swiffer products would be luxury considering they are a little expensive.  So, next, if you need to mop and have a mop and bucket, here’s how to do that.  Make sure the bucket is clean, wipe it out, inside and out, if it isn’t. Pour either a little floor cleaner, if you have it, or dish detergent into the bottom.  For floor cleaner, like Armstrong, read and follow the instructions for how much to use.  If you’re using dish detergent, a little goes a long way.  Depending upon the size of your floor, you’ll only need a dime to a quarter-size amount.  Next, use the bathtub to fill the bucket half full with hot water, as hot as you can stand.  This is why you want the bucket to be clean – you don’t want to get your clean bathtub dirty!  You should now have some sudsy hot water to work with.  Place the mop in the bucket and let the water soak it thoroughly.  Pull the mop up, bend over and wring out the strands.  Unless you have sticky spills, you want the mop to be damp, not wet.  For sticky areas, use a little more water, so wring a little less.  You might want to spot treat areas where pop or food have been spilled and left to sit.  Use you all-purpose cleaner for that, or dish detergent.  With your mop, start in one back corner and work you way to the door, keeping in mind that you don’t want to step on an area that you’ve mopped.  As your mop gets dirty, you’ll put it back into the bucket and swish it around a little to loosen the dirt from it.  Wring it out, and begin with the next section.  It is possible, if your floors are very dirty, that you will have to pour out the mop water (into the bathtub) and start with fresh.  That’s fine, just be sure to clean the tub again after you’re finished.  For the under bed areas, it is best that you have everything up and off the floor when you start mopping.  Again, be sure to clean everything off as you put it back.

10.  Almost finished!  Once the floor is dry – which will take 10 to 30 minutes, go back and do a spot check.  Did you overlook anything?  If so, get it now.  If not, take the Lysol, if you have it, and spray all doorknobs and handles and any areas commonly touched. Let them air dry.   Take your all-purpose cleaner and clean the door to your room and bathroom – just lightly – inside and out.  That’s it – you’re finished!  Take a deep breath.  Does it smell fresh and clean?  It should.  If it doesn’t, you’ve missed something – keep looking until you find it, then clean it!

Don’t get discouraged if it takes you a couple of hours the first time you do this.  You will get faster as you get your system down.  If just one roommate can help you, your time will be cut at least in half.  My first semester, I had a good roommate who would stay on a Saturday to help and we got our system down to where we could do a deep cleaning in 45 minutes.  My senior year, I rented a house and had a roommate who helped me keep the place practically spotless and we never had to do a deep cleaning – we cleaned everything as soon as it needed it and took turns sweeping and vacuuming.  That was nice, but with four people in a small room constantly using it, I’d be surprised if you could reach that level.

I hope I’ve covered everything.  If not, e-mail me or comment below.  I’d love to hear from any experienced housekeepers out there who can think of a better or faster way of doing things for these college students.  Just keep in mind that time and money are somewhat limited for them – not to mention motivation!  Have a great week – next Saturday I’m going to talk about how to iron those cargo shorts and pants everyone loves so much – until they wash them!

I was in a medical provider’s office last week for a routine visit.  While I was there, I used the restroom and was reminded of something too often forgotten in our harried life; it’s the little things that count, so we should be sweating the small stuff.  Let me explain.

I happen to know that this particular provider’s office has a cleaning service that comes in twice a week to help keep the office as spotless as possible.  But when I walked into the restroom, my eyes fell immediately on the tissue box.  Small offices in our area, including ours, buy a lot of their supplies from Sam’s club, so this is one of those mega-size tissue boxes.  I am allergic to dust and dust mites, so I am especially sensitive to dust anywhere I see it.  That tissue box was covered with dust and I thought to myself, I know the cleaning service probably overlooks it because their concern is with the commode, washbasin, mirror and floor.  I know the staff are busy and have bigger concerns on their minds as well.  But honestly, can you tell me that no one had noticed that tissue box before me?  And here’s the thing, many patients will notice it and not say a word.  But they will assume certain things about you, your staff, and your dentistry.

I didn’t say anything to the staff either.  I just cleaned the thing – it took me about 10 seconds to wipe it off - twice.  Having worked in a busy dental office I know that things often get overlooked, but once they are brought to light, any cleanliness issue needs to be dealt with immediately.  Here’s why.

Let’s say a person comes in who hasn’t been to a dental office in a long time.  They know nothing about what to expect from the dentist or the team.  What they do know, is that they want to be treated in a safe, clean environment.  That’s about all the public really knows about OSHA is that things are supposed to be safe and clean.

So this person walks into the restroom and sees the dust-covered tissue box.  What does he think?  Does he cut you some slack?  Not ultimately.  If that’s the only thing he sees, he will forget about it.  But what if he walks into the treatment room and sees mud on the floor?  Okay, that was left there by the last person and the staff hasn’t had time to clean it up yet, we’ll let that one go too.  But then, when you lean him back in the dental chair, he again sees dust on the plant hanging from the ceiling and under the shelves to his right.  What is he supposed to think now?  At this point, I would be thinking that the doctor and team obviously have no regard for cleanliness.  I would be questioning not only their knowledge of OSHA, but also their knowledge of dentistry.  I mean, if they can’t get the small stuff . . .

I’ve never had the desire to read any of Richard Carlson’s  Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series because, frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without my details.   I find “sweating the small stuff” quite rewarding.  There’s nothing like a dust-free home, or the pursuit of it.  Keeping a clean, neat, orderly, well-organized home is very rewarding and more healthful.  What’s not to love about rewards and health?  Most people, women especially, will agree that they, too, love a clean house or office environment.  But then they argue over who should do what and complain about having to do the work required to get and keep a home or office in a pleasingly livable, orderly style.  These people would do well to remember that those who love the end must also love the means.

To that end, I have finally found a book that I can sink my teeth into:  Home Comforts:  The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson.  I’ve only started reading it but I am impressed with her intellect and desire to raise the bar for today’s housekeepers.  Everyone should own this book, but especially those charged with the responsibility of keeping a home or office clean.  It is very informative, giving the very basics for beginners and plenty of detail for the well-seasoned veteran. The book has 884 pages and is well indexed.  The best part is, you can take the principles Cheryl discusses in the first couple of chapters and apply them to your situation – like, if you work in a medical provider’s office!Š

The most overlooked and undervalued human asset is the smile.  Oh, sure, movie stars spends thousands of dollars on their smiles because they know a great set of pearly whites will pay off in the long run, but how often do those movie starts get to show off their investment?  More importantly, do any of us realize the true, raw power a smile gives you, whether your teeth are pearly white or not?  I doubt many people do and even I, the wife of a dentist, didn’t realize how powerful a smile is until two years ago.

I am currently in orthodontic treatment; I wear lingual braces.  In April of 2004, I got my braces off for about a year.  My ortho appointment was scheduled for a morning hour, and my plans for the rest of the day were to run errands and catch up on some shopping.  I had no idea going in that day that I would be getting my braces off, so it came as a total surprise and made me so happy. The only bad thing about linguals is that when you get them off, no one notices because they didn’t know you were in treatment to begin with.  But I knew – and oh, what a feeling!

As I was going on about my business the rest of that day, I had some amazing experiences.  While grocery shopping for example, I had 5 different people helping me collect my groceries.  I didn’t ask for their help, they asked what I was looking for, found it and put it in my cart for me.  That had never happened to me before.  As I was pushing my cart out of that Meijer store, a young gentleman turned to watch me as I passed by him and said, “Whoa.”  The female who was with him punched him with her elbow in a way that let him know he was in trouble if he didn’t get his attention back to her.

I had several experiences like that all day long!  Everywhere I went people were eager to help me or just especially nice to me.  I didn’t know what was going on.  Was this national customer service day?  Was the day marked as “Be nice to redheads?”  Then I thought maybe I was just extra attractive that day.  We all have good days, right?

As I was getting into my car on one stop, I decided to pull my visor down and straighten my hair a little – it was a little windy that day.  When I looked at myself in the mirror, I noticed that I had this HUGE smile on my face.  I was so happy to have my braces off – my tongue was happy, my teeth were happy; I was so thrilled that I had this permanent smile on my face!  While I was dressed attractively that day, it was much more than that.  I was exuding or radiating, if you will, a feeling that everyone wanted.  Without even knowing it themselves, people (of both sexes) were drawn to me because they wanted to be a part of my world.  That world where one is completely happy and not afraid to show it.

Now, I’ve heard all the same clichés that you have like, “Smile and the world smiles with you,” and there are several others.  I’ve heard my mother say, “She’d be such a pretty girl, if only she’d smile.”  But nothing had ever conveyed to me that a smile is actually powerful – it can accomplish things for you.  It moves people to your way of thinking, it draws people to you.  But this was just one day.  Could this phenomenon be sustainable?   Even better, could it be used as a positive method of getting what you want out of life?  I believed it could, but I wanted proof.

I decided to test my theory.

At first I thought about testing the reactions I would get if I frowned all the time – you know – testing the opposite hypothesis against the experimental one to make sure the results are not the same.  But after thinking about it, I decided the results were just too predictable.  So I focused on just the smile, then the feeling behind the smile.  What if your smile is fake?  Will you still get the same results?  Will people know you’re putting on an act?  Are there levels involved?  Do teeth have to show? 

On a separate day, I went into my hometown grocery store with a big, huge, smile on my face.  I know every worker in that store and most of the other shoppers.  They looked at me, smiled back, and went on about their business.  Were they helpful?  Yes, but no more than usual.  I did, however, get one extra compliment at the checkout – the checker complimented my hair.  I’m usually task oriented when paying for my groceries, but that day I decided to just smile as big as I could at the lady and it seemed to work.  But that wasn’t enough for me.  I wanted more tests.  So on to the post office where I stood in line for a few minutes, with a huge grin.  When I made it up to the window, the clerk handled my requests with his usually friendliness, but then said, “You are always smiling.  I like that.”  Aha!  A direct hit.  Now, if I could just get one more I’d be set for the day.  But my errands were over and I had to get back home to pack for a trip to Los Angeles the next day.  I decided to extend the experiment to LA because, let’s face it, if it works in LA, it will work anywhere.

My trip the next day was harried and I have to admit that I forgot about the experiment.  However, once my assignment was over and I relaxed, I remembered it and picked it back up – in the Santa Monica airport.  What a test!  My flight was delayed, then cancelled, so I was re-routed to LAX.  I had to get my checked bags, hail a cab, which cost $105, re-check my bags, walk to the terminal only to find out my departure had bee