Any project manager at home or at work knows that money is easy to spend and hard to manage. It is never fun asking for more from the client or your boss so you need to save wisely. This holiday season, it seems appropriate to talk about decision making for spending since giving gifts is fun and it is easy to overspend. Here are a few tips!

1. Don't double down
• Have you ever bought a second gift because you aren't sure if the first one was good enough? Don't do it! You probably bought the first one with similar reasoning and whether it's a backup or replacement, you will always end up with one you use and one you don't. So put it back, and only keep one!
2. Measuring big and small
• Do you buy 5 small things so that it adds up to one big thing? Don't! If it's about how much money you spend and not the value it means to the person, you probably aren't doing it right. Take a deep breath and just buy one thing no matter the cost. If you really feel the need to dress it up to be something fancier than add a big bow to it instead!
3. Spend money on time
• Remember that the best things in life are free? My favorite thing to ask for is more time together. A promise to hang out again, to visit, and have dinner together then is worth a lot more than some technological gadget. In business and at home, your time is worth more to me and makes me feel more special than any fancy book or software.

Business is the same way. Most offices have a playbook, a SOW, or a tried and true process. Your job is to follow it with your own flare, to know when to take artistic liberties and take something from good to great. Here are some tips on how you can add your own musical hand to your work.

1. Tell a story
• Things happen for a reason. The process is in that order for a reason. It may not be fun and it may seem tedious but it works that way consistently, for a reason! Explain why it happens in that way. Maybe your method helped another client solve a difficult problem and it can give another confidence that it will work for them too. Or walk through troubleshooting the alternatives so they understand why your way is best. Stories take time but they add personality to a dry workbook.
2. Give words of encouragement
• When the going get tough, what do you say to get you and your team through it? Do you act like it always happens to you like a curse? Your flare might be humor to diffuse the situation or distract from the misfortune. Or maybe you believe that it happens to everyone and that you just need to get through it. Your flare might be keep up the good work. Share the struggle of your teammates learning something new. Recognize it, be a part of it, and then be a part of the solution too!
3. Mnemonics and Jokes
•  Memorizing new things takes time. If there is a way to ease the burden, do so! There's no reason to make it harder on them and make them blindly follow the steps. When I train, I make sure to tell them when it's something they don't have to remember or it's something they should write down. I make sure to mention the shortcut way or the funny name for something (aka Print Daddy or alligator icon). I use a few phrases over and over again that will become mental reminders for what to do next.

Love hearing about our daring adventures? This year we did a VRBO to Puerto Vallarta back in September and things did not all go as planned. Sure it wasn't a hurricane (that came in October), but we did have cancelled excursions, broken cars, and money challenges. In a foreign country it can be unnerving in the least to have to think on your feet (in Spanish) but I think it's a great way to practice keeping your cool when things go wrong. Instead of getting angry about the situation, keep your head on straight with one of these techniques.