I was catching up with a friend and coaching client of mine the other day. She had just heard about my book and downloaded it. She sent me a text that said “EXCELLENT! Sooooo am I a crumpler or folder?”. Now, I know she was baiting me because trust me when I tell you – this woman is ALL CRUMPLER. So, I wrote back – “Do you really have to ask??”
Her response was classic. “I feel like I’m a folder stuck in a crumplers body through which creates A LOT of anxiety. I’m not saying I’m an extreme folder like you of course! Maybe I’m a wanna be folder. I want the systems and processes but yes, I want someone else to do them.”
I had to laugh because this is so accurate and what I would expect to hear. Like I talk about in the book, Crumplers have an appreciation for systems and understand their value, but they are way less likely to focus on the minutiae to develop the processes.
To add some color here, when I was coaching this woman, we would have weekly discussions about dashboard metrics that I wanted her to implement monitoring in her business. She would come back to me frustrated that the team wasn’t tracking the metrics and I would say “Did you tell them what we discussed and why we need this information?” and she would say “well, not exactly – but they should know this!” A classic extreme Crumpler!
I gave her a call after her last text message because it seemed clear it was time to chat. When we got on the phone she was laughing and told me: “Before reading this book, I would have told you for sure I was a Folder. But after reading the book, I know I am probably 95% Crumpler. I even asked my husband what he thought, and he nearly spit out his coffee as he said, ‘Have you ever even looked at your closet??’”
It was actually a really great conversation because she told me that after she read the book, she felt like she could embrace her Crumpler nature and not feel the conflict anymore that she first described. I told her that being a Crumpler is something to celebrate and be proud of and that I was happy the book could help her find some peace.
How did she reward me?
She told me she would leave me a book review – as long as I sent her a step-by-step instructions sheet on how to do it because she didn’t feel like figure it out.
Yup. Crumpler.
