Chelsea shares her best tips and hacks to seeming like a more competent and put-together adult, even when you sometimes feel like you’re having trouble keeping everything on track.
Hey guys it’s chelsea from the financial diet and this week’s video is sponsored by m&t bank and this week i wanted to talk to you guys about the tiny little changes in your life that can make you seem way more competent than you are often in life so much of the battle is coming across like someone people can trust obviously this is hugely beneficial in your
Professional life but it can also help strengthen relationships help your family bonds and even make all of your day-to-day tasks much more manageable and the interesting thing about seeming more competent is that all of these strategies are truly an example of fake it till you make it in the sense that at first you start doing these things just to have the outward
Appearance of being a more competent person but by doing them you become a more competent person but if you are someone who has struggled with things like reliability or consistency or remembering things or catching those minut details these are the habits that will help instill that trust and make other people feel that you are someone competent which as i mentioned
Have many benefits outside just the office so without further ado here are eight tiny changes that make you seem way more competent number one is obsessive use of google calendar my husband the other day when he was talking to my mom about something totally kind of innocuous and nothing to do with work he said to her you have to make sure that chelsea puts it
In her calendar while she’s sitting in front of you otherwise the thing will not happen and you know what tough but fair the truth is that i used to be a complete train wreck when it came to scheduling my life and now my calendar is an utter cobweb of things that i have to do every day both the personal and the professional and not only do i put these items on my
Calendar usually if it’s something that involves another person i will send them the calendar invite because not only does it make sure that we’re both on the same track it helps me be accountable to whatever that thing is because i know someone else is also looking out for it for example we’re gonna be dog sitting my parents dog for a few weeks while they travel
To italy in february and that is already on my calendar and theirs because having it there means that not only will i not miss those days or schedule anything that takes me away from my home those days i will also have it on my horizon to prepare for and i know that they’ll be looking out for it too so i’ll be extra sure to get everything ready obviously this is
Also helpful for all of your various professional obligations but even if it’s not a meeting provided it’s okay with the other person i find it’s often helpful to add an event for when something is due and make sure that you’re both on it that is one of the best things that has helped me keep accountable to deadlines and if the other person doesn’t mind having that
Little calendar note that says this person to send you x thing it’s a win-win no matter how you use it though making sure that you are a master of your calendar is not only helpful for getting things done it’s helpful for getting them done well number two is sorting things and using labels and this is for both your cyberspace life and your meatspace life meatspace
Is how weird people say real life anyway some of the things that i am most satisfied with in my personal life are having little boxes in my kitchen for things like kitchen tools and little utensils and storage boxes that are labeled with what is in that box i got a whole bunch of paper organizers for a shelf in our house that is now going to be just about organizing
Important documents i finally got one of those wardrobe organizers where you can put like you know your underwear workout clothes or things like that i put labels on the front of the drawers and of course i have plenty of folders in my various google docs and stuff like that to keep stuff organized the point is using this sorting and labeling tactic has two huge
Benefits right away obviously it makes you seem like a much more put together person because only an extremely competent person would have all of their various kitchen tools put in a box by category and labeled as such but also it kind of limits the amount of space you have for each individual category of thing which i find is hugely beneficial to downsizing all of
Your useless crap for example my kitchen tools box is about this big by this big it has things like my stick blender my hand mixer all those various tools that are used for day-to-day cooking and are very handy and because it is of limited space all of my other tools that are not particularly handy and which i never use end up getting the boot and either donated
Or put out on the curb for people to take who actually will use it similarly with my storage box i have a storage box that’s the same size that has all my nice pyrex tupperware and occasionally items from like takeout or to lent a jar or what-have-you but because it’s of limited space all of the extra crappy ones just end up getting recycled and i’m not drowning
In useless tupperware constantly sorting and organizing is all about reducing down to the essentials and making sure when you need something you know exactly where to get it and of course doing this makes you seem very competent at work because when someone asks for something you know right where to get it but it also just makes you a generally more competent
Person because you start to think of things in terms of category and organizing them as such mentally plus it’s find a label number three is having more than one savings account we’ve talked about this before but one of the best ways to ensure that your savings goals are going to be met and something you are enthusiastic for is by making sure that your accounts are
Representative of your various goals that means a couple things that means not just leaving them as some random account number but actually labeling them by what the account is for whether it’s for a vacation or a new couch or even a new home and making sure that each account is separate so that you can decide when chopping up your savings where things should go
You can work toward goals and track your progress on each individual goal and you can further stay motivated because you know that your money is going toward things that you’re excited about and not just one general abstract pot called savings it’s a tiny change that in many ways is just about your mental perception of your savings but it can be a huge motivator
Especially when you have to really work on cutting things out in order to save for these goals not spending $20 on takeout that would be delicious it’s a lot less enticing than putting that same $20 in anonymous savings account towards the goal of having savings but $20 going toward that trip you’re incredibly excited about is a lot more compelling than some takeout
Having different savings accounts a bit of a life hack number four is always following up with notes this is obviously especially useful in the professional world but it’s not always for the reasons that you would expect obviously yes following up to meetings and phone calls and conversations with notes / next steps is a good way to make sure that you’re on track
And it’s also extremely effective at making other people perceive you as competent and reliable but it has the added benefit of you having more control over the situation she who takes the notes sets the tone doesn’t necessarily mean you can decide who gets delegated what tasks but it does mean that you have a lot of control over making sure that everyone has the
Next steps which means that people will subtly start looking to you in this situation it’s an extremely easy way to make sure that you are coming across as very put-together and reliable and it helps keep you on track as well but this isn’t just useful in your professional life in your personal life it’s also extremely beneficial if you are making plans with people
I am someone who is not to toot my own horn incredibly good at enacting social engagements i go on regular trips with people i organize huge group vacations including to different countries i have very big sort of logistical ii complicated parties i reunite people i’m a facilitator and this is because i treat my social engagements and my friendships as a kind of
Career people are very busy and distracted and easily forget things so if i have a conversation with some friends about how we should take a trip next year you better believe i’m gonna be following up with a detailed email about next steps as well as several options for destination i do this of course because i love these things i cherish these friendships and
These events are wonderful but i also treat it with that high level of care because i know it’s the only way to ensure these things will happen if having these meaningful social engagements is important to you – or preserving friendships that are maybe separated by distance is something you want to be better at making sure to take notes follow up and keep reminders
For yourself is a huge step to doing that number 5 is only weighing in on things you actually know about with the internet and let’s be honest particularly with twitter everyone is an armchair expert about basically everything regardless of their knowledge on the subject you see people on your social media coming in hot about all kinds of topics you’re like when
Did uncle steve become an expert on syria uncle steve is no expert on syria he just read the headline of one article and wants to pop off about it in your facebook comments it’s become easier than ever to get tiny pieces of information about very complicated things and then to have really hard opinions on them based on that tiny piece of information your one friend
From high school into that one podcast about soy and now she’s got all kinds of opinions on soy and especially with headlines and decontextualized data points being thrown around on all of our feeds it’s really really hard to sift out in your brain what is something you actually have real knowledge on versus what is something that you only barely know the surface
Of and it can be tempting to weigh in on conversations that are trending or that people around you maybe have strong opinions on but aside from the fact that weighing in on things you’re not really familiar with can often leave you maybe saying stupid things it also reduces the overall gravitas of your opinion your opinion on a subject should mean something people
Should really weigh it seriously when you weigh in but that only works if you weigh in on the topics on which you have real fundamental knowledge or have at least read a couple books about making sure that you edit down your commentary to the things on which you can have a real impact ensures that you will come across as competent informed and someone who chooses
Their words wisely a rare but precious thing in our era of social media number six is using a tailor there’s really nothing to explain here tailors are not as expensive as you think they are and they’re basically the reason why every celebrity picture you see they always look so good in their clothes and you’re like why do i never look that good in my clothes because
They get almost every piece of clothing tailored including things like t-shirts yes you may not afford to pay for every piece of your wardrobe to be tailored but a few key pieces being tailored to fit your body exactly makes a huge difference especially if there are key pieces for things like work or items that you wear constantly like a good pair of jeans don’t
You want people to look at you and be like damn they look sharp i know i do that’s called tailoring number seven is having a professional website with social media and god knows whatever we were doing on facebook in 2007 we all have a bit of a chaotic digital footprint there is no judgement in my mind if some of your google results are things like you doing a keg
Stand or you know at a bachelorette party wearing a crown of whatever was on that crown things happen and we all used to be extremely reckless about posting these things online i know i’m not the only one who used to make a 30 photo facebook album for every single party i had but you also to be the arbiter of your own digital footprint you want to make sure that
The top results for you are what you want people to see and one of the best ways to do that is to get a professional website it doesn’t have to be big just you a little bio portfolio whatever you want to show that would be beneficial to you professionally and a curation of the information that you would most want either a future employer let’s be honest a tender
Person who’s stalking you to see making sure that you have a coherent easy-to-use place for all of your various digital needs which is the most highly ranked for your search terms can be the difference between seeming like someone who’s maybe got a little too much going on and someone who really has their stuff together especially when you’re on the job market
Lastly number eight is having at least one regular hobby one of the things that i like to say over and over about maintaining a work/life balance especially if you have a demanding career is that it’s important to have at least one hobby outside of your work which you really care about where you want to get better you dedicate a lot of time to it it’s regularly
Scheduled for you and it’s something that really brings you value and validation where you feel good about getting better you want to see your fellow peers or your club mates or your teachers and it’s part of how you define yourself part of seeming competent is seeming very much in control of your time and in control of your energy and it may seem counterintuitive
But having at least one regular hobby to which you dedicate that real energy will help your energy overall be better spread out our lives can become very unbalanced when we just have work go home maybe watch some tv crash repeat and when we want to be at our best for something outside of work we’ll make sure to really take care of our energy get better sleep eat
Better be more productive with our time at work so that we don’t have to stay at the office as long you never want to seem like the person who’s drowning just to manage work and netflix but you’re only going to really dedicate that effort to a hobby that you actually care about and as i mentioned it’s also very important to create an identity that exists outside
Of your professional one it’s very competent to define yourself on multiple terms as i mentioned one of the best ways to seem and therefore get more competent is to have multiple savings account and if that’s something you’ve been thinking about you should check out m&t bank just like you nmt bank wants you to bank with confidence m&t understands that
You want your money to move the way you do now you can settle up with a babysitter share the cost of a birthday gift or split the dinner bill with the click of a button moving money quickly and conveniently with zell and m&t bank use l to request funds from friends and family so you can spend less time digging in your wallet and more time enjoying life’s sweet
Moments enrolling zell today at online banking mt be calm / promo / l or click the link in our description as always guys thank you so much for watching and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button and to come back every monday tuesday and thursday for new and awesome videos bye you
Transcribed from video
8 Tiny Changes That Make You Seem More Competent By The Financial Diet