Run in Screaming

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

More than a vacation, more than a restorative nap, more than a big bowl of salad, you know what gives me my almost greatest sense of wellbeing? A nice, clean, well-organized refrigerator. Or desk. Anything at all, really, so long as it provides convincing visual evidence that I’ve got it all together.

Also right up there in conferring that lovely sense of wellbeing is, a little ironically, having my will written and my estate in order (estate being rather too grand a word). Yet despite the glorious sense of wellbeing I experience when my life is tidy and my business is orderly, there are a whole host of things I carefully keep out of my line of sight….things that come in the mail, things that need renewal, things in piles, things that require phone calls, things that (I’m very sorry to say) have to do with the business side of my own medical care. 
 
It’s not good. I clearly need a targeted procrastination strategy for those things. The great news is I found it on the podcast You Are Not So Smart.* In this particular episode podcast host David McRaney chats about procrastination with Margaret Atwood, author of over 30 books but apparently a top notch procrastinor nonetheless. Her advice? Approach the stuff you dread like approaching a polar dip in a very cold ocean:
 
Run in screaming.
 
I love that. I hope you do, too, because here’s the thing: I just found out there are more than 7,300 employees among us who have no beneficiary listed for life insurance. Every benefit-eligible employee has a life insurance policy equal to 1.5 times their salary just by virtue of working at Northern Light and yet thousands upon thousands have not directed this money to anyone. You know what they should do? (Yes, they; I have this piece of business all in order.)
 
Run in screaming to Infor and get it done! 
 
Not that I’m so smart. While I had my life insurance designees in place, I found out in the notification Retirement sent out last week that I hadn’t designated my beneficiaries for my Core Account! What???? I was truly shocked. I thought I’d taken care of that through the Fidelity 403B retirement account. How did this happen? But then I ran screaming to the HR Service Center who got me set up with the right form and now it’s all done.
 
Now that I’m smarter, take it from me:  skip the debilitating dread part and run in screaming. Just run in screaming.
 
Take care -- and take your time; just not too much. 😊
 
E
 
*Thank you Don Lecker for introducing me to You Are Not So Smart! It’s a great podcast though I am a little suspicious of message.