Did you know that last week was National Simplify Your Life Week. The perfect week to highlight my work as a time strategy visionary. (Goodness, I teach people effective time management strategies for a living - and one of the major components is to simplify . . . your calendar, your goals, your environment, . . . ) However, I found myself overwhelmed trying to decide which ideas to [...]
I Haven't Had a Free Moment For So Long, I've Forgotten What I Do For Fun! What have you done recently just for fun? This really isn't a rhetorical question - I promise! Many professionals recently returned from their National Conventions. Big goals, audacious dreams, and L O N G to-do lists. But, after a certain point the more you work, the less you accomplish. [...]
I'm a HUGE fan of the late Stephen Covey. His book, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" was the first book on time management I read. Sometimes, even a time strategy visionary like myself can find herself feeling a little frazzled at the end of a day. When this happens, I return to the basics - Covey's 7 Habits to determine the adjustments I [...]
Tips for Organizing the Mail You have heard the phrase touch it once when time management gurus talk about organizing and handling paper. Do you know what that means? Many people think you must pick up a paper and act on it immediately. But actually, a better procedure is to take the paper, decide what to do with it (SHRED/TOSS, ACT, FILE, or PENDING). [...]
I've often heard "you can build (or break) a habit in 21 days". Yet, I'm not sure I've actually built (or broken) a habit in 3 weeks. Have you? For example, this past month, I've been participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Each day this month I wrote a different blog post. This included holidays, weekends, and the week I was on jury duty. [...]
Procrastination! Distractions! Ahh . . . no matter how great you are at practicing time management strategies, sometimes even the most strategic individual falls into the deep, dark hole of procrastination. Or, possibly you are overcome with the distraction of flying "shiny objects"! Maybe you "lose" an hour on the computer updating your Facebook page. Or, possibly you decide to check email for "just a moment" and 30 minutes later you are still responding [...]
I've found that turning actions into habits is a great way to create lasting change. We identify an obstacle, create a structure or routine to overcome this obstacle, and then refine our process until we no longer need to think about the solution - it becomes automatic. For many of my clients initiating action is a challenge. We know "the advantage of working from home is [...]
Our "one size fits all" 1902 replica jersey! I recently took my 13 year old nephew to the Cleveland Indians game. Game time was 7:05 pm, however gates opened at 4:30 pm. We arrived at 4:20 pm. Why so early you ask? Because the first 10,000 fans received a 1902 replica jersey. My nephew couldn't wait to get his jersey. We planned [...]
When do you feel you are most efficient? How do you balance scheduled and unscheduled activities each day, week, month? Do you work with a regimented 15 minute scheduled calendar, or do you have a weekly task list, or something in between? What is your master strategy for effective time management? In the last 2 days, I participated in conversations with 3 different coaches on this [...]
Yes - there really is an "All or Nothing Day"! Is approaching your life in an all or nothing way productive? My thought is "no". I often try to see both sides of an issue - however, I'm struggling to see the "YES" part of this question. (So if you are a proponent of All or Nothing Thinking - I urge you to post [...]
