Now or Never

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1

When I posted the title, I had the Elvis song playing in my head.  Ear worm.

I used to have a really busy job in the insurance industry.  In college, I majored in business.  It was the 80's and I was under the influence of such movies as Working Girl (Melanie Griffith), The Secret of My Success (Michael J. Fox) and Trading Places (Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy).  I considered a job in a lab (biomedical engineering - I loved chemistry but hated math) and something more artistic (decorating - too impractical).  My parent's felt I needed something more concrete since I was the first person in the family to go to college and they persuaded me to at least take typing and computers, so business made sense.  I figured I would probably end up as a secretary, but secretly longed to go to law school.
I finished with a BS in marketing.  I got a job in sales and hated it.  I had worked retail through college and like it mostly, but hated the hours and the flakiness of the employees.  Plus it did not pay well and you were on your feet all day.  But I liked helping the customers and displaying/showing the merchandise.  I consider fashion merchandising and advertising, but figured I would have to move far away and I missed my mom and sister too much in college. 
I applied for a job I found in the paper that was a good salary, but was not sales.  I got it.  Be careful for what you wish for.  I should clarify and say I did not get the actual job, but a slightly different version of what I applied for.  The other applicant that my hiring manager liked had a wife and kid.  My manager told me this, something you could never say today.  So, he hired the other guy and told me that he really wished he could hire us both.  I figured he was just saying that to be polite.  Well, about 2 - 4 weeks later I heard from him again.  Would I want to take the job that was just a step below and possibly work into the same position down the road?  Sure!  It was $23,500 a year and full benefits.  I actually would have medical insurance, vacation days and a 401(k).  Whooooopiiieeee.
This job was challenging but entertaining.  Everyday was something new and different.  We were quickly given very thorough training and authority.  We learned a lot.  I excelled.  It was unique enough, I got to use my left brain creative side.  But very time intensive and I worked long hours.  For many years.  I moved around, different states.  Got moved up and promoted, learned to specialize.  I liked the nature of my job overall, but 2 things remained challenging...time management and politics. 
We were given much training and pep talks in time management.  No preparation at all for politics.  Haha.  I really had no help at all in either area.  My father was a blue collar worker who essentially worked for his friend and my mom was a bank teller who hated management.
One of the things we were taught by Big Insurance was, only touch something once.  We had daily "diaries" of stuff to do on each "file" assigned to us.  Often the job was so overwhelming with "fires" that come up from tasks being forced up on us from new "files" or people calling and yelling at us that we would just move the diary ahead a few days, or a week.  This did not help in the long run, these tasks were still waiting for us, along with new "fires".  So, we were taught to 1)  do what you could to move the file forward any time you looked at it, 2)  diary ahead realistically and 3)  each piece of mail you got - put it where it needed to go when you first touched it.  Don't just stick it in a pile.  Summarize the mail in the computer database and file it with the appropriate hard file.
This has served me well in life.  I hate junk mail, I hate all mail, really.  Paper or electronic.  I do what I can to minimize it.  I elect to get electronic billing on all accounts and zero junk email (I opt out of all and create spam for all the offenders who ignore) and when I open paper mail I deal with it right then...a)  keep and file or b) shred and throw away.  I hope to add more efficiencies in my life like this (systems) upon retirement, so that I won't become bogged down with the slack routine and have loose ends.  I don't deal well with loose ends.  I would almost rather do something wrong than do nothing!  Ha.  Anyway, this has been your lesson in 90's Big Insurance rah rah boom bah pep talk about how to cram more into your day.  Not really, this is a way I can do my chores and have more fun.
Have a great Monday!