Everyone has had, at one time or another, a pebble in their shoe.  Drives you nuts, right?  And, when you got rid of it it was quite a relief?  Yep.

Well, I’m here to urge you to get rid of some pebbles.  For example, I had one employee who wouldn’t, couldn’t fill out his paperwork on time.  Time Sheets, Mileage Sheets, Replacement requests, all languished in his vehicles, half filled out.  Oh, he’d get them in….finally, but  this situation created monumental headaches for Operations and Office.  We begged, we pleaded, but. still…late paperwork.  He was a "pebble".

Finally,  instead of wasting time bemoaning his negligence, we pulled out the Big Guns.  "No paperwork, no checkee".  It worked.  We also had a talk and found out he was dyslexic so we addressed the problem and made the paperwork more "user friendly" by having checkoff boxes whereever possible. 

Bye, bye bad pebble.  He made more of an effort, it was easier, and the office and OPs people chipped in to be more understanding and helpful instead of fussing.  See, the answer is to find another way both with a carrot and with a stick to get what you need. 

Another story about a "pebble" is about my shower.  Yep, here in Vegas I have a shower that has given me fits every day for years.  If I would turn the handle just the least bit off center, it would break meaning a trip to hardware store or call to plumber.  Every day when I started the shower I would hold my breath.  Every day a minor stress.  Finally, it broke…again.  This time however, I told the plumber to fix it once and for all!  He found a new design, a universal handle and installed it.  It works like a dream so, now when I turn on the shower, I smile.  No stress.

Question is, why didn’t I do that years ago?  Why didn’t the plumber tell me years ago?  Moral of the Story?  One by one, get rid of as many "pebbles" as you can be it office , shower, whatever.  Some of them we can fix, others not.  Fix the ones you can.

Now, go out there and sell some TOPsiders for me.