This weekend we moved. Nobody enjoys moving, even though once you have moved, the exciting process of starting fresh in a new home can begin. I’ve always used Craigslist to sell furniture, find quick gigs, hire for short term gigs and tons of other services. I’ve never received any negative feedback when I’ve offered to pay someone for various jobs like moving, cleaning or delivering furniture. I want to compare two Craigslist labor gigs I posted this past weekend, one which received tons of responses, and one which received only a few, and most of them were negative feedback. You can decide for yourself whether I was asking for too much and offering too little.

If you’ve ever looked in the labor gigs, you know that it can be pretty depressing. There are a lot of people who are looking for experienced carpenters who want to pay $10 per hour, knowing full well even a non-union carpenter earns $20-$30 per hour. And there are people who want help moving or doing some other extremely physical but unskilled task for $8 an hour. I knew I wanted a decent mover but I am not the type to hire professional movers when we don’t have that much stuff and none of our heavy stuff is particularly valuable (movers are a justifiable expense when you own heavy, expensive furniture or ornate décor that needs to be handled with care). So I put an ad for two at $14 per hour, and said a small bonus would be included if we finished under four hours. Within minutes, I was flooded with texts, phone calls and emails. One of the first responders early on was a young guy who seemed responsible enough so I took the ad down in less than an hour. Within that time I received almost 20 different offers for help and no one negotiated the rate or complained that it was too low. Many offered their own truck for use with the move. So there was a ton of positive feedback for a $14/hour mover rate which included a lot of physical labor and was about four hours of work. On moving day, we bought lunch for everyone and gave each mover $65, or $16.25 per hour since it was tough work and they did a great job, moving fast but not damaging any items, and were done in exactly four hours. I thought it was awesome that moving day came and went and even though I had lots of work on my end, I didn’t lift a single heavy box. It was totally worth it.

Now here are the stats on the second posted gig: there was one item that needed to be removed off the wall with a ratchet tool that I didn’t have and my fiancé was not around to help with. I also decided at the last minute that we should spackle any holes in the wall from where we hung paintings. Now, I could have done the following: buy spackle and a putty knife and a ratchet set at Home Depot, all for about $50. We had a ratchet set at home but having just moved I didn’t want to find which box it was in. There were maybe 12 small holes in the walls from paintings. So instead I posted an ad with these simple tasks and offered $20 per hour, saying it probably wouldn’t take that long. I had one guy respond right away who came and did the job in about 15 minutes and I paid him $20. I thought that was a fair trade, but unlike the first gig, I got three emails complaining that I was asking too much for too little, warning me “you get what you pay for” and that the skill involved warranted at least $75. Now, I’m the last person these guys need to preach to. I know all about getting underpaid and my fiancé has over a decade in construction and he can tell you some horror stories as well. But we’re talking about jamming some putty in a hole and smoothing it over, and using a ratchet tool to remove two screws. I could have done it myself, I just didn’t want to. It didn’t warrant the time and effort. The guy I hired made $20 in 15 minutes with tools he already had. It’s not awesome getting only $20 from a gig, but for only 15 minutes of work, that’s not too bad. Or maybe the complainers were right and I am just a ruthless capitalist stomping on the rights of hard-working craftsmen everywhere.

If you guys recall, I’ve been pretty good about tracking monthly expenses since January 2012. It’s been a great habit that I’ve developed that gives me a better understanding of where I stand each month as it can vary greatly. Some months I spend $500 on non-fixed expenses (food, gas, and everything else that’s not rent and fixed payments), and some months it balloons to $1,200. But even in those expensive months, I’ve been able to handle all my expenses and not accrue debt. But I have a terrible confession to make. I haven’t done a monthly spending spreadsheet since October. I know, six months of untracked spending. I’ve been meaning to catch up with them, and I plan to, but that’s six months where I haven’t had a clear number in my head of how much I’ve spent and whether I will be able to pay my credit card balance in full. So far I have, but this month I may not be able to. There are just way too many expenses at once and I can’t keep up. Between work, two nights of class, planning a wedding, buying a place, traveling for work and trying to stay normal, I took on too much. My life in 2014 has been at least 40% more fast-paced than it ever has been, and I haven’t kept my careful eye on daily expenses like I did in 2013.

It makes me wonder if that fast-paced lifestyle makes it easier to get into debt. It definitely doesn’t have to, but it’s easy to get into debt when you are doing many things at once, and especially when all of those activities cost money and you aren’t spending as much time creating new sources of income. I used to spend a lot more time writing posts, reaching out to buyers and people interested in my consulting work, and even blog income like growing my blog. But the fast pace of the day means I come home and can only think of the hot tub, dinner and maybe a little reading and TV before sleep overcomes me.

But it’s all about adjusting to this new pace of living. Plus, my life should slow down by midsummer, when all of these big events wrap up and we get into a quieter pace. I also want to appreciate this time because it is special. The way we react to things is pretty much the only tool we have that is dynamic and so powerful. Yes, it’s fast-paced but it feels great to work on so many different things. There are people out there who handle a high-paced life every single day with very little downtime. It’s easier to handle once you find ways to stay on top of your personal errands (so you’re not getting into debt or losing track of your expenses) and get enough sleep.

If you’re living that fast-paced lifestyle and are still adjusting from the days when you had entire days with nothing to do, or nights when you read a book for hours, here are a few tips to help you handle the transition:

• Don’t hit the snooze button: Start the day when it’s supposed to start so that you are not adding the rushed element to this already delicate dynamic
• Keep notes for yourself: Keep a journal on you (tiny one) for notes, thoughts, to-dos and spending
• Laugh: The biggest danger is taking yourself too seriously. When it all starts to seem like too much, just take a minute to laugh and think, “Oh come on” and then do whatever you need to do laugh: watch an old MadTV clip, read a funny article, call a friend.

Are you staying in the fast lane or slow lane these days?

I’m suffering from short-termism. You could also call it short-termitis, or maybe short-term’s disease. But short-termism is used to describe the phenomenon when businesses focus on short-term results at the expense of long-term interests and gains. Whew, that sounds familiar! I’m so focused on the short term with wedding planning and moving into the new place and furnishing said place, that my long-term interests are suffering. I haven’t been staying on top of my expenses, I get worked up quickly, and I haven’t been spending any time growing my business prospects. I’m all about working through my quadrant one urgent and important tasks. And all of my urgent and important tasks involve paying up: paying for a new pool key ($25), paying to get the mail keys ($65 but I’m looking for cheaper), paying the DMV registration (about $160 with the smog check). I wish that was the worst of it, but those are only my smallest expenses. All in, I am looking at thousands in expenses leading up to the wedding, for the honeymoon and for our new home. I am frustrated when I feel like we could be doing more, but we’re sidetracked or just doing other things. We’re focused on the short term and it feels like it will be impossible to do anything that is good for the long term in these next few months.

But the good news is that there are things you can do even when you are stuck in short-term mode. I’ve been focused on the long term and felt pretty good with how things were going, but the reality is that some things are short term, urgent and important, and need to be taken care of quickly. A wedding that is fast approaching is one. A new condo you just bought but aren’t living in yet and still paying rent on your current place is another. Of course we want to move quickly, but we also want to have some things, say, a refrigerator and a bed. So what have I done that helped me escape from short-termism for an even shorter term?

Cut our cell phone bill

I pay for four people in the family and pay the majority of the bill, which kept edging up, and was at nearly $230 per month. Thankfully, our carrier now offers those $40 per line for tons of talk and data, so this bill will now be $160 per month. That’s $840 less that we will pay towards telephones in the next 12 months. It is still a lot of money and I know that. We’ve also been good about not upgrading any of our phones, so when I find something cheaper, we can make a switch.

Keep Exercising

Even when I really don’t want to, I get up on weekday mornings and go work out. Weekends have to include a long hike, run, tennis match or something active and outdoors or I just feel bad. I already have a dress and that baby does not stretch so I have to stay in shape. Exercise keeps me alive and sane. There’s nothing like being all pissed off and then going for a run and totally forgetting everything that was bothering you. Endorphins and adrenaline are my friends.

Check a few things off the list

In short term times like these, I make lists. A lot of lists. In several different places I find myself making the same to-do list over and over again, from my phone to my laptop to the legal pad on the desk, to the agenda of some unrelated meeting. But even though it seems manic, when I rewrite my to-do’s, I often get them done faster or I find new ways to get things done just because I have written out the task a few times.

Short-termism is a long-term philosophy at the expense of the things you value most: your relationships, your long-term gains and good behavior that can change your life. So if you’re in it now, you can still stay grounded and find ways to take care of long-term, important priorities while putting out the short-term fires.

Are you an introvert? A friend once explained that introverts get their energy from being alone, so that they can have the energy to be around others. And conversely, extroverts draw their energy from being around others, so that they can have the energy to be alone. I’ve always liked that explanation, but I never knew exactly which one better defined me. I mean, I definitely love to talk, but it’s easier when it’s a small group or just one person.

If you’ve ever taken the Meyer-Briggs test, I usually fall at 51% extrovert and 49% introvert. So I am an extrovert, but just barely. And I have an extrovert job: one where I am giving presentations, sales pitches, meeting with people, going to conferences, and oh my goodness, sometimes it’s exhausting. I’ve figured out a few ways to deal with being an introvert who has to be an extrovert on the job.

Don’t Contribute to Every Roundtable

I can’t help but analyze situations, and when you work with a group of people for long enough, you start to hear all about everyone’s personal lives. Not crazy details (although some people are more forthcoming than others), but sometimes everyone feels the need to share their long weekend story, their Christmas story and every other story. This is where my introvert side comes out and I have a very strong desire not to share what I did last weekend or where I plan to go this weekend. It may seem antisocial at first, but let’s be honest, not everyone really wants to hear about your life. I am doing everyone a favor by just skipping the roundtable every now and then.

Build in Quiet Time When You Travel

It’s great to get out of the office, but everyone who travels knows that your days are way longer when you travel. It’s not uncommon to start the day with breakfast together, attend meetings all day, and end with dinner with customers and coworkers. I don’t know about you, but there are very few people I don’t get tired of after spending 15-hour days together. But there is almost always an hour or two of down time between meetings or before dinner. This is when I usually take time to get out of the hotel or conference center, take a walk, or workout in the teeny-tiny windowless room at the hotel labeled “Gym”.  Just having an hour to yourself will make dinner seem like less of a chore, and more of a chance to break bread with new people.

Capitalize On Your Other Skills

Even when you have a job where a big part of your work is talking, there are still a lot of other things that need to get done. Whenever there’s a presentation to be made, a pitch to be refined, I’m usually all over it. It gives me a chance to focus on what the big ideas are, and I generally tend to be a better presenter when I have practiced and refined my presentation by writing it down.

If you toe the line between introvert and extrovert, then it’s natural to want some downtime away from others. As long as you can find moments to recharge, you won’t go end up draining all of your energy because you can’t get a moment alone. And if you’re an extrovert in an introvert’s job, then just reverse the advice here to make sure you don’t spend too much time alone and not enough time getting motivated by spending time with others.