326: Mental Preparedness
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates. Use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
Summary
Why is dog walking and pet sitting such a mental burden? It’s not just the worry of meeting a client's expectations or concerns about missing a visit. We break down how the pet care industry is the perfect storm of task switching, multi-tasking, and distractions. Becoming more mentally prepared takes planning and reviewing not just your schedule, but also every visit. Also, standardization of visits and routines (to the extent possible) helps control the environmental impacts of going from client to client.
Main topics:
Where does the mental burden come from?
Problems with task switching
Multi-tasking is draining
Getting into a good flow
Main takeaway: Prepare for the mental burden this industry takes by planning, limiting disruptions, and getting good software or way to store information.
Links
Pet Sitters Associates: use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
ProTrainings: For 10% off any of their courses, use CPR-petsitterconfessional
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
visit, client, task, pet, dog, disruptions, business, pet sitters, reviewing, people, mentally, bowl, brain, confessional, day, single, walk, switching, mental, do not disturb
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin
Meghan 00:10
Hello, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hello, welcome to episode 326. Hello, thank you to pet sitters associates, our sponsor, and our other sponsors. Our Patreon members. Thank you very much to Becky, Doug, Laura, Katherine, Ashley, Janie, and Yvonne
Collin 00:35
and many others as well. I thank you so much for finding value in the show and wanting to support the show in return. And if you're listening and you have found value, you find the show meaningful and helpful to you and valuable and informative. Consider supporting the show you can go to Pitzer confessional.com/support, there are a ton of ways to support the show it not just financially you can share a show with a friend, you can leave a rating or review, you can get connected with a potential sponsor that you think would be valuable to other pet sitters as well. There's lots of ways to do that.
Meghan 01:10
Today, we are going to be talking about mental preparedness and how to overcome a kind of the the taxing nature of this business. So we recently had a staff member come to us and she loves the job. She's super excited. But she didn't realize going into this job just how mentally taxing this would be. And it really got me thinking, yeah, that this is we say this all the time. But it's not just puppy cuddles and Kitty kisses, you know, people think that that's what it is. And sometimes it is. But really, when you're doing drop in, visit back to back to back, you have to be on your brain. Sounds silly, but your brain has to be working. And, you know, if you didn't have a good night's sleep previously, it can really affect what you do during that day. But with a drop in visit, you're thinking about, you know, the not just the pet, the care for the pet, you know, if they have specific needs, food medication, you're thinking about the house as well bringing in the mail and packages and plants. And there's just so much more that goes into a drop in visit. And even if you're a dog walker that you know, spends 25 or 28 minutes out on the pavement, you know, you may not be taking care of the home as much, but you're still thinking about the care of the dog. And if this particular dog is reactive, or you don't walk a certain path with this dog, you know, there's so many little intricate things that we do day in and day out in our business for the dozens or hundreds or sometimes 1000s Depending on the size of your business, the 1000s of clients that you may serve. On any given week, there's a lot to think about.
Collin 02:49
And you're not just there taking care of the pet, as you mentioned, Megan, you are doing so many other individual tasks, I think if you took a standard visit just right now visualize a visit that you have either that you just finished, or that you're walking into, and try and make a bullet pointed list of every single task that you have to do for that visit, like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you know, opening the door twisting the door handle, how are you going to put your hand where you're gonna put your foot? How you're gonna enter the room? What are you going to do first? How are you going to let them out? What are you looking for all of these things, your brain is constantly going through that?
Meghan 03:22
Well. And the thing is, is it's different for every single client.
Collin 03:25
Yes. And that's what our staff member came to us talking about was, hey, it's, it's a lot to try and go into from finish one and go right into another one and be ready for that visit. Because that does take a lot of a lot of not necessarily task switching. But But situational switching of going okay, all of the information that I just completed and had to execute exactly how to present correct is now completely irrelevant.
Meghan 03:50
Because it's a different home, it's a different pet, the client has different expectations. Maybe this is a walker versus a drop in. There's so many different things. And
Collin 03:57
so how do we go about managing that that's what I want to talk today about mentally being prepared and dealing with all of the individual tasks that we do. And I think the first thing we need to talk about is that word task switching. task switching is when we have to move our attention from one thing to another. Many times we do this subconsciously we're able to think about or process things at different speeds or rates or you're driving down the road. And you're task switching by looking at the car in front of you checking your rearview mirror, checking your left mirror, looking at the lights ahead of you, all those are little interval individual tasks that we're switching in between. The issue comes in whenever we switch from one task to another and there's no relation between them. And all of a sudden, our brains have to make a massive leap to get in to the next gear to focus on that tasks, which is a known killer of productivity in office spaces in the corporate world because people go from a phone call to writing an email to the now growing running down in meeting now they're having to run numbers now they're going back to the another you don't remember where their pencil was. Each one of those times House, while important to their work has no relation to one another, you don't flow from one thing to another.
Meghan 05:05
Well, and we've actually talked about this before with social media. So if you go onto Facebook strictly for creating a social media post, or writing a caption, or doing the hashtags, or whatever it is, but there's the other side of Facebook, that's like entertainment, and you see your friends and you see, you know, other pet businesses or whatever, you know, you kind of squirrel and divert your attention that way versus setting your sights on exactly what you intended to do and being productive with that time. And so that's why we talk about the social media and the phone usage of turning on the Do Not Disturb, so that you are just solely focused on that one task.
Collin 05:39
Now imagine you're in the middle of a visit, and you get the your your phone, it pings. And you were just in the middle of a task, and you look at your phone to see what that message was you put your phone back, how many of us immediately remember what we were working on?
Meghan 05:50
Not many, not many, I don't get
Collin 05:52
those few seconds, that is now added to the length of the visit that you're working with. And now you are even more behind and going oh, wait, what was I working on? How am I getting back on task? What was the next one that I was working? That's the thing for me. Okay, maybe I can get back on track with the fact that I was filling this bowl whenever I checked my phone to make sure it wasn't an emergency.
Meghan 06:11
Now I gotta go. Well, what was I doing after the bolts? Exactly? What was
Collin 06:14
my plan after this, that we're kind of stuck in that mode of going, Okay, now we've got to figure that out. And we've delayed, and that's where task switching really becomes a major killer of not just our productivity or our time in the visit. But it's mentally exhausting to have to do that over and over and over again, while you're in the middle of a visit.
Meghan 06:34
Okay, so what is the solution? How do we help ourselves in those moments?
Collin 06:38
Yeah, so something that I work with our staff on, and I do it myself, especially for those visits, is, before I go into the visit, I am basically rehearsing how that visit is going to go. And mentally practicing and working through mentally the steps that I'm going to go through the order of operations basically, for that visit, before I even walk through that door, so that I'm not having to deal with disruptions because that's really what it is, is whenever our attention is brought away, we have disruptions and disruptions are a major killer of of the productivity and the visit. And some of them are brought about by ourselves. Some of them are external, like the email or the phone call that I mentioned, sometimes the disruptions are the dogs that we're dealing with. And we have to deal with, Okay, well, I had a plan. But now I've got to go and do and clean up this mess or the dog is not getting back in the kennel. But if I haven't sat and rehearsed the optimal way of doing the visit, as soon as it goes sideways, I don't know how to get back on course. And so the process of physically writing out and mapping out a visit, so that you can know exactly what you're doing is huge. And I've done this with all of our staff, especially for really complicated visits going, okay, verbally tell me the steps that you are going to do for this visit to get everything done, and have them explain it. Okay, first, I have to go do this. Because then you can go, oh, well, you know, it sounds like well, so one of the visits that we did recently, they kept everything in the garage, the all the litter scoops were in the garage, the trash was in the garage, the buckets were in the garage. And so a lot of it was very tempting to just go out to the garage and get one thing and bring it back and then go out to the garage and bring another thing instead of going into the garage one time grabbing everything you need coming back in and then progressing from there. So it's more efficient. And that just starts with planning and reviewing your information either the night before the morning of and right before you go into the visit. I like all three of those points, having having a touch point with the information and my workflow for that particular visit. So that I know exactly what I'm going into and it's fresh on my mind.
Meghan 08:45
Well and if you're solo this is probably easier if you've had clients that have been with you for months or years or you know, that's a lot easier because you know exactly what to expect. You've done this client before but even for new clients, it takes a while to get into that groove.
Collin 08:59
Yeah, and especially when it is back to back to back to back because that's a major switch. And so part of the rehearsing part of the reviewing of information and material keeping that top of mind allows you to move from one situation into another as seamlessly as possible. And Megan you had brought up a good point about having our phones on Do Not Disturb. That's again because the phone is going to be a major not just distraction but time killer and attention grabber during any particular visit. So putting your phone on Do Not Disturb silencing the ringer except for emergencies. And you can actually set up having VIPs or starred contacts that are able to break through that barrier so that if there's something major going on, they can reach you and talk to you. But now's not the time to be distracted by the ringing of a client who's trying to book you in four weeks. I need to be focused now. So that do not disturb is huge. And then having space in between visits to just take a few minutes before or after each visit and triage what happened what came in what am I deleting? What am I putting To my to do list so that I can get to that next time when I actually have a longer stretch of time, because we can't let that build up too much, where we just ignore our phone all day, and then sit down and try and recover from 12 hours of messages and calls and text and social media. You can do these little treehouses throughout the day as well to help manage that on the back in
Meghan 10:18
two and to say what is most important versus what yeah, what can I wait till later. And so it is important to manage your disruptions because they are they lead to less productivity less efficient time, and you might be wasting time at a client trying to figure out the next client or answer a phone call or something. And all
Collin 10:37
this is about trying to get into flow, a flow of work, I say, workflow, but get into a state where you are seamlessly moving from one thing to another, without having to do too much mental gymnastics, or it's not too taxing mentally, to remember to recall to work at understanding what's my next step. Part of this comes through experience, as you mentioned negatively, okay, well, if I've had a client 100 times, it's a little bit easier for me to get into that flow because I can work and this is not going on autopilot. The very key distinction here is autopilot means we're not paying attention to what's going on.
Meghan 11:14
Because we still need to be in the moment, we still need to be focused and aware in case we walk in the door and there's a dog passed out,
Collin 11:21
or we notice something that the dogs limping, if we're on autopilot, we're not going to see that. But we're in flow, all we know is this is the task I'm working on. And I know that the task that comes after that, and I can move from that from one to another easily without having to make a big jump.
Meghan 11:39
It does take discipline, though, to manage those distractions, because this business is kind of about multitasking there. I mean, you can wash a bowl, but you know, you're may not be physically doing something at that another thing at that exact moment, but you are multitasking in your head of okay, I'm watching the bowl right now, what do I need to be doing next. So there
Collin 11:57
are three different types of multitasking, there's the one where you're performing two tasks at the same time, like washing the bowl and thinking about what's going on, there's switching from one task to another without having completed the first. So this may be you set the big bowl to fill with water. And while it's filling, you go and run and try and do three or four other things. And then there's the rapid succession of switching from one task to another, and going boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And as dog walkers and pet sitters, we're doing all three of those all the time. And once not better, or worse, I think it really takes an understanding of how your brain works. That's true multitasking of being able to do two different tasks at the same time is extremely rare and not nearly as productive as it would be to just move do one well first and then do the other one, immediately after
Meghan 12:47
that. Because I do think we have an episode on being efficient in your business. And we had said to try as much as possible to not multitask because it is not efficient at all, because you're spreading your brain too much. And we're you know, there's that saying jack of all trades, master of none. And so when you are trying to do too many things at once you are not able to do any one single thing to 100%.
Collin 13:10
Yeah, it could be talking on the phone while driving, that's doing two tasks simultaneously. And we know how well people do it that the crash statistics around that kind of activity, even worse, his texting and driving those, those are antagonistic to one another and almost to the extreme, where, you know, if you are walking a dog and on the phone talking that well, those aren't going to do well together either. But if you're also filling a water bowl, you're also have a mop running and you're trying to get us out medications, that's too much at one time. And part of the not being overwhelmed by visits is understanding what can I as an individual handle? How do I process information? I, me I call it fall fall very much in line of I have to complete one task before I move on to the next one. within certain ranges. I do feel water bowls readily while I go and pick up other ones while I'm washing dishes and things like that. Those are pretty low risk ones. But I know as soon as I start to do that while out on a walk or giving medications or focusing on specific feeding regimes, the stakes get raised, and I need to really pull back because I know that's not appropriate for me.
Meghan 14:19
Yeah, you know, your capacity to handle several things at one time.
Collin 14:23
Yeah. And so people come in and they think, Oh, I've got to multitask. And they think that means doing multiple tasks at the same time. They try and do that it's mentally exhausting. They make mistakes they take longer than they anticipated. They get frustrated with themselves and they're extremely exhausted at the end of the day, and trying to help people to understand you can multitask in different ways. And that we need to be focusing on doing tasks well, as opposed to doing them expediently and that faster is not always better.
Meghan 14:55
Yeah, because it's quality over quantity here. You want to do a ton task to the best of your ability versus doing 18 tasks at the same time and not doing all of them? Well,
Collin 15:08
now, and again, this gets back to that context that switching between between tasks is that if you are working down a path and you get interrupted, depending on the task and your level of concentration needed to do it, it can take upwards of 25 minutes to get back on track to make to understand, Okay, where was I with this? Well, that's basically the length of at least our our visit, right? So that is why reviewing information, preparing beforehand helps you get into that flow for each visit. So you get a feel for how it's going to go.
Meghan 15:44
A major contributing factor to this is that each house is different, each layout is different. And especially if you've never been there before, or you haven't been to that part of the house where the animals are, or whatever the situation is, it can be a little troubling to figure out and use that time that you have in the visit to Okay, where is this thing? Where is this thing? How, how do I go from A to B to C? What do I need to do?
Collin 16:08
We're just where are the stinking paper towels? Where did they hide them this time? Well, usually people put them next to this kitchen sink. But now this one is in the garage or whatever. The environment is a major contributing factor this because it's so different. There's very little standardization, except for most people tend to keep the trash bags underneath their kitchen sink. Like that's a pretty good go to, but not always, but not always. So how do we control that? How do we work in such different environments?
Meghan 16:38
Well, and even like I mentioned earlier, even if you're a dog walker, just using your time to just clip the leash on the dog, and then go and then drop the dog off, and you don't even really go into the house, you're still you're still dealing with different environments, because you're walking a different path or you know, the dog is again reactive at a certain point or doesn't like squirrels or you're always having to be on really,
Collin 16:58
the lock is different, the doorman is different, the keys are different, the code is different, all of those things are different. And that prevents us from being able to get into that flow. So a big part of that is trying to standardize as much as possible. Hi, I would appreciate it that while I'm caring for your pets, you leave the cleaning supplies up and out on the counter, or please put them here or please put anything that I may have to use in a place where I won't have to search for it.
Meghan 17:25
If you're a dog walker, and it's raining that day, or you just have a standard of always wiping the dog's paws, please have a you can tell the client please have a towel right next to the front door. So I can white fluffy paws
Collin 17:37
that minimize the amount of time that you're having to go search and think and prod and figure out where these things are. So you know, okay, all of my clients are trained that the towel is on the left of the door so that that's where it's kept. We always leave the leashes over here, this is where I like to have the cleaning supplies. This is where we like to put the food out while I'm here. So I'm gonna have to dig for the stuff. That kind of standardization really takes a lot of mental burden off of ourselves and worry that we're going to miss or forget something while we're in that visit.
Meghan 18:08
Now again, though, this is complicated by drop in visits, you having to go into homes and maybe administer medication or wet food with dry food or there's, there's so many different combinations of things every every single situation is different. But I agree yeah, standardizing as much as possible and trying to get all your clients onto the same page of you know, this is at Joe's petsitting. This is how we do this. And you can tell all your clients that so there really is no way necessarily to completely get rid of the mental tax that this business does have
Collin 18:40
No, unfortunately not it is just kind of part of how we operate and the nature of the business, going from clients home to clients home to clients home to clients home, is is good for the clients, but it is it is challenging to us,
Meghan 18:53
which is why you need to set your prices appropriately and make sure that you are properly being compensated for the time that it takes you to get there not just you know, the website and gas and all the expenses, but physically, your time being there and your mental bandwidth. You know, that's not something that we typically put a price on, because we just don't think about it. But it is a big aspect of this.
Collin 19:17
And part of that is having a good software or a way of keeping good records of where where am I storing that information? Because if we go in relying solely on my brain's ability to remember, was it one quarter teaspoon, or was it one quarter copper was at one quarter scoop? What's the difference for that for this one versus the next house versus the one I just came from? That'll drive you up a wall. And so having a way to quick reference that care information really does. It doesn't just save you time but it gives you peace of mind of it does not matter if I can't remember a single thing. Maybe I did all the reviews that I had a plan, but I'm so frazzled today that I just can't focus because of all the red lights or the late visits or the dog that vomit or the Uh, you know, almost dogfight that the dog got into, you know, everything that I need to know is in this software or in this book that I have with me so that I can reference that. And I've out, basically, I have now have an outboard brain where all that stored so it doesn't rely on me to remember that well,
Meghan 20:18
and this is even more crucial if you have staff because if you are no longer the one doing the visits, or if you're not doing 100% of the visits, and they're doing some they need to know exactly what's going on. So bait Yeah, I mean, write out your SOPs, which is hard because every client is different. You can have a standardized process in your SOP of how to do a drop in how to do a walk, you know what happens in this situation, how to kill a cat, dog behavior, all that stuff. But at the end of the day, each client is different. And so still keeping an excellent notes on every single client is super helpful. And even if you're solo, right, like, as you just mentioned, it is very helpful in reducing that mental burden. So between those four things, software, reviewing info, planning the visit and limiting disruptions, you are better able to take back control of some of your day and be more mentally prepared. Something that is not a mental burden is pet sitters associates. As pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members, pet sitters Associates is here to help for over 20 years they have provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. Because you work in the pet care industry. You can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters Associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today. At pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when joining by clicking membership Pet Sitter confessional and using the discount code confessional at checkout, checkout the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pets@llc.com. If you have any tips or tricks or life hacks for dealing with this business of mental taxation and a little bit of burden, let us know you can email us at feedback at petsitter confessional.com or hit us up on Facebook and Instagram at petsitter confessional. We are so appreciative of you listening to this today and any of the other 325 episodes that we have put out. We know that you are very busy. And so thank you for taking the time and listening to this today. Thank you Bye
