So if there aren't very many hours left in the day to work with, what are my options?   I decided I have to be content with not doing a lot of extra things in this season of my life, and when there is time for extra, I want that time to be spent with my family.  Once I gave myself a pass on all of those things I thought I should be doing, I felt so much better!  I was the one putting most of the pressure on myself.  

I encourage you to give this exercise a try! 

1. You may want to start by tracking your time to really see how you are spending your hours.  Use this free time tracker worksheet for this step! 
2. Summarize your time tracker into categories with total time spent on each category  (example: work =8 hours, cooking = 2 hours, cleaning =1 hour, etc.)
3. Then mark the items that are non-negotiable and find out how much time you have left in your 24 hours after the necessary items are complete.
4. Fill in the blanks of your day with other tasks.
5. Give yourself permission to say no or to NOT do something if it will take away from something else you want or need to spend your time on.

If you're a bit of a spreadsheet geek like me, shoot me an email at info@mylifeinorder.com and ask me to send you the How to Spend 24 hours spreadsheet that does all the math for you! 

Check out all of the other time management posts on the blog to help you find ways to balance all that you want and need to do into the realistic framework of a 24 hour day!  

Last week was Labor Day which meant a day off of work for many of us.  Long weekends are exciting, but short weeks tend to overwhelm me.  There is just as much to do, with one less day to get it done.  When time is short, choosing the right thing to work on first is even more important.  

"There's so much to do that I don't even know where to start!"  How many times have you said that?  I'm here to help!  Not because I'm the expert, but because I've faltered and failed enough times to find a better way.  

Gary Keller suggests in his book The One Thing that we ask ourselves this question over and over, "What is the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”  In the past, I thought that checking several things off of my to do list was better than completing one task - even if that one task was more important or urgent. 

In fact, doing less, can help us accomplish more in the long run.  Keller says, “Until my ONE Thing is done — everything else is a distraction.”  Distractions are everywhere - email anyone??  Read the last post about the No Email Hour to help avoid that trap!  Once you figure out what that ONE thing is, focus on it, and accomplish it, you repeat the process over and over!  The hard part is determining what that ONE thing is.  

Experts often point to the Eisenhower Matrix of urgent and important tasks.  This matrix is named after the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was experienced at prioritizing while he was a general in the US Army and the Allied Forces Supreme Commander in World War II.   He suggested identifying the urgency and importance of a task to determine what to do first.  An urgent task is one that is compelling or requires immediate action or attention.  An important task is one that is of great significance or value.  If a task is both important and urgent, that puts it in the "do first" quadrant.  A task that is important, but not urgent should be scheduled for a later time while a task that is urgent but less important can be delegated to someone else.  Finally, if a task is not urgent and not important, this is something that likely not even do at all! 

The Eisenhower matrix is a great framework to help sort out your tasks, but I would suggest a little twist to increase productivity even more using this simple order.
​

1. Delegate - it's super easy to check something off your list when you don't even have to do it!
2. Automate -  do one or more steps of the process, and the rest happens automatically.
3. Remove Stress - a big, scary task looming over you will hinder your productivity the rest of the day - just do it!
4. Consider Dependencies - be aware of cause and effect and think downstream.

​A busy day at home is the perfect opportunity to apply these steps.  Let's say you have a sink full of dirty dishes, 2 loads of laundry to do, a doctor appointment to schedule, and uncomfortable email to send, cookies to bake for an event,  kids to take to and from sports practice, and a few things to pick up at the store.  Here's how the 4 steps above can help you be productive.

First you should look for an opportunity to delegate.  If you can completely delegate a task, that's an easy win, but even if you can delegate only a step in the process, that can free you up to work on something else at the same time.  If you have kids, there are plenty of ways they can help like unloading the clean dishes from the dishwasher, sorting laundry or even starting a load.   

​You have several automations already created for you in your day.  In our busy day example, your dishwasher and clothes washer and dryer automate some of your tasks.  Automations do require prep work.  You have to empty the dishwasher of clean dishes and load it with dirty dishes before you can start it.  You have to gather and sort your laundry, put a load in the washer with detergent before you can start the washer.   Once you get your machines working for you, you can complete other tasks while your dishes and clothes are getting clean - in this example, scheduling that doctor appointment.  

It is important to get automated tasks going before you do other tasks.  If you waited until late in the day to start the laundry, the automation doesn't buy you as much time as if you start it early in the day.  You may need to revisit your automated processes from time to time (like switching the clothes from the washer to the dryer in order to start a new load)

Now that you've got others working for you (delegation) and your machines working for you (automation), it's time to remove the stress.  There may be one task on your list that has been causing you anxiety or stress.  If you put it off, you may be focusing on it instead of other tasks throughout the day.  By getting it out of the way, you will better be able to focus later.  In our example, that uncomfortable email may be a source of stress.  While your machines are working for you, take the time to just do it!

Finally consider dependencies in tasks.  You still need to take kids to and from sports practices, make cookies, and go to the store.  The kids' practice is dependent on a specific time.  It's scheduled, so you can't do it before the time it occurs.  Since you'll be away from home during the drive to and from practice, and you probably shouldn't leave the house with your oven on, you either have to get the cookies finished before you leave, have enough time to bake the batches while practice is in session, or not start until you return home from pickup.  You don't have any chocolate chips, so you can't make chocolate chip cookies until you've been to the store.  Now that you've thought through all of your to-do's, you can determine the best order to complete your tasks in.  

By using these 4 steps along with the principles of the Eisenhower matrix, you will be able to choose to put first things first and become the most productive version of yourself!

​Sources

Keller, Gary. The One Thing: the Surprisingly Simple Truth behind Extraordinary Results. John Murray Press, 2019.

“The Eisenhower Matrix: Introduction & 3-Minute Video Tutorial.” Eisenhower, 2017, www.eisenhower.me/eisenhower-matrix/. ​

When you are overwhelmed, it is all too easy to focus on busywork like reading and answering emails instead of the tasks that really matter.  You probably have your email program open all day long, and you may even have pop-ups or audible notifications set up to alert you when a new message comes in.  Email can contain important information, but it is likely the single biggest distraction of your workday! 

You may think you can check or compose emails while you are doing other things throughout the day, but Gary Keller says in his popular book, The One Thing, "Multi-tasking is a lie."  What he means is that we cannot truly do more than one thing at a time.  Productivity psychologist,  Dr. Melissa Gratias explains it well, "Our brain does not perform tasks simultaneously. It performs them in sequence, one after another.  So, when we are multitasking we are switching back and forth between the things we are doing."  The price we pay for attempting to multi-task is called switching cost.

"Switching cost is the disruption in performance that we experience when we switch our attention from one task to another," explains James Clear, author of the New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits.   Just think of how many times a day you check your email!  A study published in the International Journal of Information Management in 2003 reports that a typical employee checks email nearly every 5 minutes and it takes over a minute to get back to what they were doing before the email interruption.  Do the math - that's a waste of 10 minutes every hour which equates to an hour and 20 minutes out of an eight hour workday just getting our brains reset back to what we were concentrating on before we stopped to check email.

To combat this distraction, start by choosing one hour of your workday to NOT check email.  Trust me, I know this is hard!  I picked a hour in the morning because that allows me to get important tasks done without distraction early in the day.   Select an hour in the portion of your day where you feel the sharpest and most awake so that you can leverage that energy and get meaningful work done when you are at your best.   It would would be a shame to waste the best part of your day on your inbox!

To really make this hour productive, make sure you have a task list in order of priority handy so that you can jump right in doing the thing that matters the most.  Next week's post will be about how to do first things first (I'm pretty excited about this one!)

If you get really good at a "no email hour" in your workday, you may want to try increasing that time.  Depending on the type of work you do, it may be detrimental to be 'off the grid' for too long.  Some experts suggest only checking email a couple of times a day, but in my day job, that would just not be acceptable.  If I do need to be away from email longer than an hour or so, I sometimes set a temporary automated out of office message to set the expectation that my response will be delayed.  The message can be very simple like, "I'm working on a high priority project and will not be checking email until 2 p.m.  If you have an urgent need, please text me at ###-###-####."

One caveat that makes the "no email hour" tricky is that many tasks may require sending emails, so be careful not to get sucked in to your inbox when composing a new message.  To avoid the temptation, try these shortcuts to open just a blank message instead of your entire inbox. 

Outlook - When you want to send a message, simply right click on the Outlook icon on your taskbar, and choose new message.  You could also create a desktop shortcut to compose a new message (instructions here.)

Gmail - There is a handy dandy Chrome Extension called Quick Compose for Gmail that allows you to open up a blank message withOUT going to your inbox.  Once you've installed the extension, there's even a keyboard shortcut!

iPhone Mail App - Use 3D or haptic touch (which basically means that you tap and hold) on the mail icon until a menu appears, and then select new message.  This brings up a blank message without taking you into your inbox.  NOTE: if you have multiple email accounts set up on your phone, the message will be automatically from your default account, but you can easily change that by tapping on the from address and choosing the proper account.

These are the three mail apps I use most often, but if you use others, I'm sure a quick Google search of "how to compose a message without opening my (insert mail app) inbox" will bring up tips to help you.

Try the "no email hour" for a week and let me know how amazing it feels to get an entire hour's worth of work down without email interruptions!  

​Sources
Clear, James. ATOMIC HABITS: an Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. RANDOM House BUSINESS, 2019.

Clear, James. “The Myth of Multitasking: Why Fewer Priorities Leads to Better Work.” James Clear, 4 Feb. 2020, jamesclear.com/multitasking-myth.

Hoyt, Alia. “How Multitasking Works.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 27 Jan. 2020, science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/multitasking.html.

Jackson, T., Dawson, R. and Wilson, D., 2003. Reducing the effect of email interuption on employees. International Journal of Information Management, 23(1), pp.55-65

Keller, Gary. The One Thing: the Surprisingly Simple Truth behind Extraordinary Results. John Murray Press, 2019.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

We woke up early on the first day of the 2020-2021 school year only to learn that our home internet was out!  Since we were all planning to spend the day learning and working online, we had a few moments of panic.  Luckily the internet  came back on before long and held steady the rest of the day! 

I had planned every detail of virtual learning at our house, but there was still something out of my control.  It's good to be reminded that no matter how well we plan, the unexpected still happens.   I think this school year may teach us all that lesson many times over!  Because there is so much in life that we cannot control, it is helpful to be organized because that gives us the capacity to handle the unexpected when it comes our way.   

Whether your kids are doing virtual learning at home full-time or their school has a hybrid approach where just part of the week is e-learning, being a parent of a school-aged child this school year is going to be a challenge!  I am trying to use organization to help make the experience as smooth as possible, and I thought I'd share some of my ideas with you.

Challenge # 1:  Not enough workspace
We are excited to have my older son's best friend and his younger sister joining us for virtual learning.  It gives our kids some socialization and makes their school day much more fun! But we had to get creative to fit everybody in our home and still keep distance between them.

We live in an 1800 square foot, nearly 150 year old house with no spare bedroom or office. ​  On days when I work from home to help supervise the school day, there are six people to fit into the space!  We decided that we wanted everyone on the same floor, so we are not using bedrooms as classrooms.   Because of that, not every kid has enough room to have all of their books and supplies next to them at all times.  We solved that problem with a set of plastic drawers labelled with each kid's name.  The drawers are on wheels so if I want to get rid of the school look, I can roll them into the laundry room!

We decided that since most of the school day will be spent on Google Meets with headphones on, it didn't really matter if kids were in the same room because they rarely have to talk out loud during live class. We set the two older kids up in the kitchen and the younger two in the living room in a configuration so no one gets in anyone else's videos!  

My husband works in our bedroom on a slim table that we set in front of a window, and when I'm working from home, I work in my craft area.   Even though it's a little crowded, I made everyone their own nameplate for their space to define it as theirs.  I got acrylic frames for photo booth pictures for less than a dollar, then used scrapbook paper and some markers to make every "desk" a little special.  At the end of the day, the kitchen kids have to put everything in their drawer so my family can eat dinner at the same table, but it works!

Challenge #2:  Confusing schedule
We have two different schedules with different break times for the elementary and the middle school, and then there are alternating days for certain classes - it gets confusing fast!  I got two white boards and two inexpensive easels (check the photo frame section for these) to display the schedule.  I used different colors to help the kids easily find their next class.  For the schedules that alternate, there is a magnet that indicates what day it is.  We have one white board in each room to keep kids on track.  

I also created a printable daily schedule that lists each class time, class, and code for the live video session as well as check boxes for other daily requirements.  These were great for the first week while everyone was getting used to their schedules.  After the second week, we probably won't need these anymore and can just maintain a list of codes for the videos.
​
One thing I love about virtual learning is how much extra physical activity the kids are getting because they can go outside and play, go on a bike ride, or just get some sunshine during breaks.  But it's important for them to stay on schedule, so setting timers is a great way to help kids manage their time and get back to their seats in time for the next session.

​
Challenge #3: Tech Issues 
I work in IT for my day job, so I am used to tech issues!  The biggest lesson here is to teach your child how to fix issues rather than fixing them all yourself.  It's amazing how even young children can learn to troubleshoot an issue when you take the time to show them how.  Before school starts, go through their device with them and explain the basics.  Don't assume they know how to open a new tab on a web browser or even turn down the volume.  Chances are you may have to show them a few times, but if you take the time at the beginning to teach them how to help themselves, you won't be needed as much later on.

We've already run into broken links, unknown passwords, and pictures and videos that wouldn't display.  Teachers have been very honest that this is all new to everyone, so don't feel bad about asking them for help or letting them know when something isn't going quite right - but be nice!!  Taking a photo of exactly what you are seeing on your kid's device may be more helpful than trying to explain it in words.  

Slow or overloaded internet will surely be a problem at some point.  If that happens, try limiting video to only when it's needed.  Most teachers have a recording if something goes wrong and you can't participate live.  You may have to roll with it!
​

Challenge #4: I have to work!
Many of us are working parents, and work doesn't just stop when school starts.  We are in unprecedented times, and employers are trying to make accommodations but still stay in business.  There are some who can't work from home because of the nature of their job.  This is where we have to stick together and help each other out!  I'm fortunate because my husband works from home, but I am trying to be very aware that he has a full time job and as willing as he is to be a teacher as well,  I need to pitch in where I can.  I occasionally work from home to give him a break, and I also review schedules for the next day and make lists, monitor homework assignments, etc. the night before so the days are smoother.

No matter what kind of job you have or how high up you are in an organization, all employees are just people and many of them are parents dealing with virtual school.  Even those who don't have kids themselves, have a child or teacher in their lives and can understand the challenges of juggling work and school responsibilities.  Several times a week on conference calls, I hear someone's child in the background or someone on the call has to excuse themselves to help with a school issue.  It doesn't bother me a bit - I get it!  We are all trying to do our best, and no one can deny that our kids' education is important.  

To help stay focused at work when you are at home with school-aged kids, set them up with everything they need before you start your workday.  Designate your own workspace and clearly communicate when kids are allowed to enter that space and at what times they need to be quiet.  You may consider a sign or visual reminder of these things for younger children.  Schedule your breaks around the kids' breaks so you can check homework, answer questions, and enjoy seeing their faces in the middle of they day.  You may need to talk to your boss about working an alternate schedule.  If there are hours that you need to dedicate to school, is it possible you could work some in the early morning or late evening to make up for that time?  

None of us know how long we will be dealing with virtual school, so I encourage you to identify your top challenges and come up with strategies to address them. Organize yourself in other areas of your life to give you more room in your day to deal with the challenges at hand.

Have a great school year!

Many of you may have begun working from home in the past couple of weeks and may be doing so for the foreseeable future.  If you've never worked at home before, it can be a big change and a big challenge!  I've heard from some of you that you are struggling in various ways — from staying focused on your work to not letting your working hours bleed into your personal time.  I have worked from home on and off for years, so I wanted to share with you some tips that may help you be more productive at work, more comfortable when you are working, and give you the ability to separate work and home life.

You may think working from home means you get to roll out of bed and go straight to your laptop in pajamas and bedhead, but I suggest you actually get ready for work similar to how you would if you were going into the office.  Depending if you are required to video chat or not may determine how much time you spend on your appearance, but at least do the following:

• Shower - Sometimes I prefer to do this at night to allow me to sleep in a little bit more.
• Get dressed - Though you probably won't be meeting dress code and should wear something comfortable, at least change into something clean and presentable in case you do need to get on a video chat!  
• Fix your hair - You don't have to look like you just left the salon, but at least run a brush through it!
• Put on some makeup - If you don't normally wear makeup, you get to skip this step.  For me, if I don't put on some eyebrow color and eyeliner, I look like I'm sleepy or sick, so a tiny bit of makeup actually helps me feel more alert.
• Brush your teeth - I feel like this should go without saying, but I know my kids feel like this is optional when they don't leave the house!
• Eat breakfast - You don't need to cook a gourmet meal, but at least eat the same thing you would before or on your way to work.  This will prevent you from taking extra snack breaks later that could impact your productivity

Get up early enough to get these things done before you're supposed to be logged on and ready to work.  Over the past couple of weeks, circumstances were extraordinary and there were days that I got woken up with issues at my day job that continued all day so that I never had the time to do these basic things.  I felt out of sorts and out of control all day long!  I'm a true believer that how you look impacts how you feel (so much that I wrote an entire post about it!)  Set yourself up for success by being awake and ready to face the workday — even if you're just walking to another room in your house!

You are likely sharing your house with at least one other work-from-home employee and maybe a couple of e-learners, so having your own work space is very important. In the past when I've worked from home, I've been alone all day while my husband was at his job and my kids were at school which allowed me to camp out wherever I wanted.  No matter which room I was in, I was alone and able to avoid distractions, but now there are people everywhere in my house!

Depending on the size and layout of your house, it may be tricky to find your own space, but get creative.  You can work at a desk, a kitchen or dining table, a counter, a card table, or even a few TV trays.   If you are using a portable table, you can set it up anywhere — in the back of the living room, a bedroom, a walk-in closet, basement rec room, mud room, etc.  Try to find somewhere quiet, preferably where you can shut a door, or at least create some separation between you and the other members of your family when needed.  Try to avoid working from your couch or in your bed — you may be laughing, but it can be tempting! 

If at all possible set up your work space and leave it set up until your work-from-home days are over.  The less time you have to spend hooking up equipment, finding your work files, and clearing off a space the better.  I have my work space set up in our mudroom/craft room.  I've got my extra monitor and my laptop all hooked up and plugged in, my headset nearby, a clear surface for a notepad, and a cup of writing utensils within arm's reach.   When I'm done for the day, I just shut down my laptop and close the lid.  When it's time to work again, it only takes a few seconds to get up and running again.
​

Some find it difficult to stay on task at home because there are so many other things you could be (or want to be) doing like laundry, dishes....or watching TV!  Make sure you have all the tools you need to be productive in your work space so you can more easily keep work and home separate and avoid getting distracted.  For example, keep a notebook specifically for work near your computer so that aren't making work notes on your grocery list.  

Be diligent about daily task lists, but keep work and home lists separate.  I've suggested various task management and to-do list options in past posts, so pick your favorite and stick to it! (Trello, Nozbe, Evernote are all options you may want to look into) Try keeping a running list of "home" tasks that come to mind while you are "at work."  Give yourself permission to jot the idea or task that comes to mind down when you think of it on a special notepad or add it to an electronic list so you don't waste any of your energy on trying to remember it later.  When you know you won't forget, you're less likely to actually get up and do the household task right then.

Make sure you have a comfortable chair, a keyboard and mouse that work well, and have your monitor(s) set up in a way that doesn't cause you to strain your neck or eyes.  The more comfortable you are, the more productive you will be.  Invest in a headset — even an inexpensive pair of ear buds with a microphone will make talking on the phone while working remotely much easier!   Finally, don't forget to drink plenty of water!  I'm great about having water with me at work, but I've found at home, it's something I tend to forget.  Staying hydrated can prevent headaches and help you stay focused.
​

When you go into the office, you have certain times that you typically work.  Do your best to stick to those same hours at home.  At work you likely take a few breaks and a lunch break every day, so do the same at home, and try to take those breaks away from your work space.  Some of the great benefits of working at home is that you can take breaks with your family, get some housework done, or even take a nap in your own bed!  Remember that just because your fridge and pantry are a room away doesn't mean that you should snack more than you do on a typical workday.

Many who have never worked at home fear that the lack of boundaries between work and home will cause them to feel like they never stop working. In my day job, I'm always on call, so I have learned the hard way some strategies to try to keep work and personal time separate.   A few things that help me draw that line when I work from home are:

• Let your work team know when you are on a break or unavailable.  Set an expectation when you will be on and offline.
• In the same way, let your home "team" know when you are working and need privacy, and when they can expect you to be done for the day.
• If your home work space allows, close the door when you are working to signal to your family that you should not be bothered.  
• Give your family a heads up on what times of the day you need extra quiet for phone or video conferences.
• Most corporate phone systems allow you to change your status for phone calls and instant messages so people receive a message when you have marked yourself out of office or busy.  Be diligent to use this feature so your status can be trusted.
• If you are using a laptop, physically close the lid when you are on a break.
• Clear your desk of notes, papers and clutter and shut your computer down at the end of your work day.  This is a signal to yourself that work is done, and makes it inconvenient to start working again until the next day.

​I wish you well as you are navigating these unprecedented times of remote work.  I suspect there will be an increase in productivity for some when they get the opportunity to try working from home.  I think it will be very interesting what happens to remote work once the current situation has passed and some employers realize how well workers fared working off site.   I'd love to hear tips you've come up with to remain productive while you've been working from home.  

Are you overwhelmed?  It seems like almost everyone I know feels like there is too much on their plate or there just isn't enough time to get everything done — at least not done well.  I used to think that if I could just be more productive, I could handle it all,  but what I've learned is that is just not true.  We all have a limit —there is a finite amount of time in the day and I only have a finite amount of energy.  If there is truly too much, something has to give.

You may feel like nothing on your to-do list can be delayed, delegated or deleted, but I think that most of us don't even know what all is on our list.  The general feeling of overwhelm follows us around because of the sheer amount of things we need to do but also because of the things we fear we have forgotten or are spending energy trying to remember.    If you could free your mind of trying to keep track of your to-dos, you would have more bandwidth to "do the stuff."  This is where a brain dump comes into play.  You can get it all out of your head and then organize it into a trusted system.  Here's an easy brain dump how-to that you can use for personal or professional purposes or feel free to do both at once.

The supplies you need for this step are blank, lined notepad and a writing utensil.  Set a timer for no more than 15 minutes and then begin writing anything you can think of that you need to do, want to do, or even ideas that have been floating around in your head.   Write one thing on each line.  Some of what you write down will be projects or categories and others will be actual tasks, don't worry about differentiating, just write everything you can think of. The timer is just to give you a sense of urgency and create focus, it's not to limit you on getting everything out of your head and onto paper.  So if the timer goes off and you have more to write, keep at it!

If you're like me, you take notes in meetings, while on the phone, and when you randomly think of something.  These notes could be in a journal or notebook, on a scrap of paper or sticky note, or even in a note taking app on your phone or computer.    It's likely that you have notes in multiple places which makes it hard to know what all you really need to do!  

In this step you are going to gather all your notes and transfer any tasks onto your master "dump" list.   Try to quickly scan each note rather than re-reading everything.  If after you've transferred the to-do, you don't feel like you need to keep that note, draw a big X on the page so when you are all done, you know that it's ok to throw away.  

If you've never done this process before you could have a lot of notes to go through!  I suggest making a judgement call here that anything older than a certain time frame is either no longer relevant or probably has cropped up again in more recent notes.  This means you simply choose not to look through those older notes, but since you actively chose to do that, you can release that from the things in the back of your mind to worry about.  If you feel it's necessary you could archive those old notes "just in case."

As you are working through this, a note may job your memory for another project or task you hadn't written down.  That's a good thing, you are truly emptying your head!  Just add anything else that comes to mind to your master list.

​Depending on the amount of notes you have, you may want to use the Pomodoro technique in this step so you don't get burnt out.  Work for a set amount of time and then take a small break where you get up and move around, and then go back to work.  

By now, you should be feeling much lighter because everything is out of your head and onto one giant list.  Don't feel overwhelmed by the size of your list because now you're going to make it manageable.

Review each item on your "dump" list, and if it's a project or category mark it with a star.  A project is something that requires multiple tasks to complete and a category is a way to group like tasks together.  An example of a project is "Plan Spring Break trip" and an example of a category is "Phonecalls."  

After you've gotten through the whole list, you can continue in one of two ways — 1) Continue using a notepad or 2) Use blank sticky notes.  I'm going to explain how to do this using both methods, so read through both options before you decide what works best for you.

1) Continue using a notepad.
​Write each item you starred on the top of a separate piece of paper.  Spread the papers out on a clear surface.  Then go through your list and add each task to the appropriate project or category.  If you get to a task that doesn't have a project or category, either create a new sheet with a new heading or if it's a standalone task, add it to a sheet titled "miscellaneous."  As you add tasks to project sheets, mark them off the original list.  If you run across a duplicate, just mark it off as well.  Continue until every task has been transferred.

OR

2) Use blank sticky notes
Write each item you starred on a separate sticky note and stick to a large empty table or counter, or better yet, a blank wall.  Then go through your list and write each task on it's own sticky note and stick under the appropriate category.  If you get to a task that doesn't have a project or category, either create a new sticky note for that project, or if it's a standalone task, add it to a  "miscellaneous" category.  As you add tasks to project sheets, mark them off the original list.  If you run across a duplicate, just mark it off as well.  Continue until every task has been transferred.  The beauty of using sticky notes is that it's easy to move a task from one project to another if you change your mind about how you'd like to categorize.

Now that you can physically see all the projects, and tasks that you have on your plate, it's time to get rid of, or delete, some of them!  Scan each project/category for items that are no longer needed or relevant, and mark them out (notepad method) or wad up and throw away (sticky note method.)

​Review remaining tasks for things that someone else can do. You may have taken on a task because you felt obligated or thought you were being helpful, but if you continue to add to your responsibilities you won't be able to complete even your required tasks.  If YOU don't have to be the one to complete a task, consider who could help you, or even do it better than you.  Once you have successfully delegated a task to someone else, mark it off your list!

Finally, look through what's left and select the projects and tasks that can be pushed to the back burner.  I have a "someday/maybe" category that I store these deferred tasks in.  I review these periodically to determine if any should become active again.

Now that you have a somewhat more manageable list to work with, you should enter what you've chosen to keep on your list into a trusted system.  If you already have a task management system, make sure to review what's already included, and mark off the ones that are completed or no longer relevant before you begin adding new projects and tasks.  If you haven't chosen your preferred task management system, you have a lot of options!  You can use a simple notebook, a color coded binder,  or you can go with an electronic option.  In past posts I've talked about a few of my favorite digital options including Nozbe and Trello. 

Regardless what you choose, make sure you can easily prioritize and assign due dates to tasks if needed.  Once you've gotten to this step, maintaining your system is critical.  Make sure to add ALL tasks to your system so you don't have to go through this entire process again!  You should review your system daily so that you are always in tune with what your next action should be on each project.

I read a lot of blogs, articles, and books about productivity, and one of the top suggestions for success is developing habits and routines - specifically in the morning. 

Morning is a time of day I love to BE up and productive, but my problem is the GETTING up!  Many of the books say you should get up at 5 a.m., exercise, meditate, and never look at your phone.  Well... my mornings have almost always been the total opposite of that.  I've traditionally set the alarm for as late as possible to allow me a few snoozes and then scurry around until I'm all sweaty and it's a little past time to get in the car for my commute.

I've gone through spurts where I got up early and walked on the treadmill or did yoga or maybe even read an enriching book, but it never lasted much than a workweek. I'd look to other research to support my theory that maybe I'm just not a morning person.  The book The Power of When by Michael Breus is very interesting and suggests that each of us have a chronotype that dictates when we tend to perform the best.  Though there's truth that I might not naturally pop out of bed at 5 a.m. happy and looking fresh, work and school still start early in the day, so I've got to figure out how to embrace the morning!  I distinctly remember the feeling I had one crisp, fall day in college when I'd gotten up early to finish a paper and walked across campus to turn it in.  I closed my under-20-year-old eyes, breathed in the cool air, and thought, "It feels good to already be done with something this early in the morning."  I often think of what it felt like to breathe in that feeling of early morning achievement.  How do I get that feeling back?  How do I become consistent in early accomplishment?

Here's what I've come up with:

1.  Have Something You're Excited to Get Up For
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THIS is where it's at! If you enjoy sleep more than you enjoy what you do in the mornings, obviously, it's going to be hard to get out of bed. Thinking back to that feeling I had of early morning accomplishment when I was in college - what I remember most was the beautiful, cool morning air.  I used to, very rarely, and only on a weekend, go out to my deck to read if I needed some alone time.  The weather had to be perfect, the angle of the sun had to be perfect, and the timing had to be perfect so there was no dew on my chair.  All three of those things aligned a few weeks ago, and I was enjoying my book and the sounds of the birds in my backyard.  I looked around me and saw the overgrown plants, the dusty table, and the leaf-covered boards of my deck.  I decided if I was feeling so calm and enjoying my book in the outside so much in the midst of that disaster, how great would I feel with pruned plants, a clean table and a swept deck?  I spent a few hours that day cleaning things up and vowed to sit outside every morning that week before work for at least a few minutes and do something I wanted to do - read, write in my journal, work on my blog, plan in my calendar, do a devotion, just sit and listen to the morning - whatever I wanted!  What a great week it was - I made progress on my e-book, I planned, I read, I smelled my flowers!  I'm not going to lie, there was a day that all I did was take two deep breaths of morning air and then headed back inside, but even on that day, I looked forward to getting outside, which made it much easier to get out of bed!

For me, getting outside coupled with having some dedicated time to do what I wanted to do was key! I did have to adapt to the dew on the chairs (a towel to sit on or a chair from inside brought out) and the humidity (not fixing my hair until after the outside time), but because I was excited about the time set aside accomplish my personal goals, I made it work! Now that I've made going outside in the mornings a habit, I'm going to try to get up a little earlier in the coming weeks to enjoy more of that time!  Winter in Indiana may prove a little difficult for outside time, but I plan to create a nook somewhere to stand in for my deck during the worst of the weather (though I'm not going to dwell on winter weather when I still have late summer and fall still to enjoy!)

2. Do what you want to -- and what you don't 

As excited as I am about my outside, alone time to do thing things I want to do, I'm still a mom, wife, homeowner, and employee, so everyday there are tasks that aren't necessarily making me jump up and down with joy.  But since I'm allowing myself that time to do what I want to do, it makes those other tasks not as bad.  Is there a really daunting task for work that  you could get a jump start on at home, do you need to start a load of laundry or maybe even scrub the toilet?  Pick at least one task that you don't care for (and it's ok if it's a tiny one) and just get it done!  You will feel so good that you've gotten it out of the way

​3. Plan ahead 

I wrote about this topic earlier this year, but I think it makes such a difference in a morning routine that I'll sum it up for you again.  Limit your morning decisions by picking out your outfit, and either pre-packing your lunchbox or at least having go-to snacks available to pack.  Use your phone to remind you of what you need to do on a specific morning or to alert you when it's time to get in the car!  I also like to time myself so I know exactly how long certain morning tasks take. 

​Multi-task!  Normally, I'd tell you single-tasking is a better bang for your buck, but in the morning, you can do a few things at once like let your hair dry while you put on your makeup.  Quit opening up the same cabinet over and over - plan your morning attack and be efficient!  Leave something in your home clean before you exit the house for the day - for me it's my bathroom counter, for others it's their made bed.  Give yourself a quick win to start the day feeling productive!  And finally, make a note of all the stuff floating in your head rather than trying to remember it.  A note on a piece of paper, a digital note on your phone, or even a voice memo, are all great ways to empty your head without worry of forgetting so you can focus on your morning routine.  (If you'd like to read to whole post about tips to avoid a mad rush morning, click here.)

4. Sleep
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It's really hard to get up early (and do it consistently) if you don't get enough sleep.  That's not a profound statement, just common sense.  In a previous post, I wrote about a really good day I had that began with a good night's sleep, so I wanted to figure out how to consistently get that kind of sleep to create more really good days!  I've found that stress has a huge impact on my sleep, so making my bedroom as calming as possible is a must!  Even if the rest of the house isn't clutter-free, I try to make sure my bedroom and bathroom are picked up.  A bedtime goal (mine is 10:30 - 11:00 p.m.) also helps, but I've found that one of the most important parts of getting a good night's rest is to go to bed before my husband.  Reading a physical book in bed to the light of my bedside lamp with the noise machine set on the rain sound makes me sleepy.   I use a specific scent of lotion every night (and only at night) right before I turn off the lamp to tell myself it's sleeping time!  I also prepare for whatever temperature I might want in the middle of the night.  If I start out with no socks, I have a pair on my bedside table.  I have headache medicine in my bedside drawer and some water within arm's reach just in case.  The quicker I take care of small nighttime nuisances, the more sleep I can get.  My sleep goal is 7-8 hours per night.  I track it with my fit bit, and normally am just shy of 7, so I've got some room for improvement!

5.  Don't compare 

Who cares if you haven't run three miles or read a chapter of a personal development book or made your family a hot breakfast? Morning routines are about YOU, not everyone else.  Like I admitted earlier, my personal, outside time on some days is literally just breathing!  What matters to me is that I'm up, I'm motivated, and I'm growing.  I don't share my ideas and experiences with you so that you feel bad about yourself for not doing exactly the same, I'm sharing them so you can feel inspired or motivated to find your own, personal morning routine that works for you!  As much as I wish I loved exercising and could check that off my to-do list before 8 a.m., it's probably never going to be part of my morning routine (because I will continue to be red-faced and sweaty even post-shower for hours after any level of physical exertion!)  So, you know what?  I'm ok with my own routine that may not fit the "ideal" because it fits me! 

I encourage you to find what works for you and stick with it for at least 3 weeks to determine if it's going to move the needle.  I could see positive change after just one workweek of going outside in the mornings, but one workweek does not a habit make - keep it up!  I would love to hear what you find as the key to your morning - share with us in the comments or on the Facebook page!

2.  Set an alarm you can't ignore (or two)  
I used to be a serial snoozer.  I could hit a traditional alarm clock's snooze button every 9 minutes for a good hour before finally rolling out of bed.  I tried using my Fit Bit as an alternative and set multiple alarms that would vibrate until I turned them off.  That worked better, but I soon learned, I can turn them off in my sleep!  I think I may have found the best solution for me - I have been setting an alarm on my Google Mini and when it goes off it the morning, I have to actually speak to turn it off, "Hey Google, cancel alarm."  Even if I don't get out of bed immediately, having to talk out loud seems to wake me up enough so I don't fall back asleep. ​  I like setting backup alarms to make sure I'm out of bed in time.  Additional alarms throughout the morning can also keep you on track - try an "it's time for breakfast" alarm, an "it's time to dry my hair alarm", or an "it's time to load the car" alarm.  Remember all those little things you do in the morning that could be wasting time - like checking email or social media on your phone or watching the news.  If you want to build those into your morning, give yourself a set time so you don't get carried away!

5.  Limit the number of times you open doors and drawers
I try to only open a drawer or a door twice a morning - once to get out what I need and a second time to put those things away.  I open my top bathroom vanity drawer to get out my contacts, my hairbrush, and my makeup bag.  Then I close the drawer and don't open it again until I'm done with all of those items.  I open the door under my vanity to get out my curling iron and/or hair dryer and hair products, and then I close it.  I don't open it again until I'm ready to put those away and while I have it open I spritz myself with body spray before closing the door for the final time.  

6.  Put things away as you go
I like to wake up to a clear bathroom counter and leave for work with a clear bathroom counter.  It allows me to start the day with a little control.  When you do your makeup, try taking out all the items you will use out and set on the counter.  As you use them, put them back in a makeup bag, so when you're done, everything is back in your bag and it's easy to just put it back in its place.  Try a heat proof bag or container for curling irons or straighteners, so you can put them away as soon as you're done instead of leaving cords all over the place!  Keep a wastebasket next to where you get ready so you can throw away cotton swabs, tissues, cotton balls, etc. as you go.

7. Empty your head
Whenever you think of something you need to do, either write it down in a place you will see before you walk out the door or set a reminder on your phone that will create a notification so you can feel confident you won't forget.  If I need to take food for a carry in or return a library book or drop my car off at the repair shop, I set a reminder for early that morning so that when I look at my phone before I walk out the door, I'll see the notification.  This helps me sleep better not trying to remember what I have to do in the morning.  I also set reminders at times all throughout the day for things I need to buy, errands I need to run, phone calls I need to make, etc.  It's nice to get them out of my head and into a system I trust.  

I've said it many times before, I'm not great with time, which is why I try to come up with systems and habits to help me.  I'm not going to lie and say I'm never late or I always have a calm morning, but these few tips have helped me greatly reduce the amount of mad rush mornings!  ​

Even though we got an extra hour of sleep this weekend, there’s still only 24 hours a day.  Sometimes it’s just so overwhelming to try to fit everything into our lives!   There are many resources out there for time management, but I wanted to share 5 simple tips that have helped me improve how I manage my time.

1.  Track your time
If you’re anything like me, you are so busy that you feel like writing down what you’re doing is just another task you don’t really have time for.  But, if you commit to just one week, 7 days, of writing down what you’re doing in 15 minute increments, you will be amazed to see how much you actually accomplish in a day’s time!  If you’re really honest when you track your time, you will see more wasted time than you like, but you’ll also see how much time of your life is spent doing things you can’t NOT do – eating, sleeping, grooming.  When you know what time you have left after those kinds of non-negotiables, you will automatically feel more in control and more motivated not to waste those remaining hours.  Take the time to track your time!  Download this free printable to track your time this week.  It’s broken up into 4, 6 hour sections, so you can visually see how much of your time is really spent during the overnight hours (hopefully sleeping), morning, afternoon and evening/night.  You’ll be amazed how many hours are already spoken for, so that’s what makes being productive in those remaining hours so important!

2.  Time yourself
Once you’ve finished a week’s worth of time tracking, you will see patterns in your days.  There are things you do every day.  Some of those repetitive tasks will occur at the same time each day, but others could be mixed throughout your day.  In your time tracking phase, you were only recording in 15 minute increments, so you didn’t find out how much time it actually took you to empty the dishwasher or take a shower or drop off the kids at school.  Identify the things you do at least 3 times/week and then get your timer out!  Time yourself doing each of those tasks.  Don’t rush to beat the clock – just do them as you normally would and then keep a log of the tasks and the times they take.  If you want to be really scientific, do the tasks multiple times and then take an average time.  There are lots of time tracking apps out there - one free one I've used is Toggl.  What you can gain by timing yourself is a realistic expectation of what you can accomplish in a certain time-frame and the ability to insert quick tasks into random time openings in your day.  Have 10 minutes before you need to get in the car – well, now I know it only takes 6 minutes to empty the dishwasher – why not? ​

3.  Prioritize
Now that you know what you do, and how long those things take, you can now really prioritize.  Once those things are you’ll need to do a big bad brain dump!  Get out pen a paper or try the sticky note mind mapping that I tried in “Confessions of a List Maker.”  After everything is out of your head, begin categorizing all of the to-dos.  Don’t get hung up on your system, your goal is to have a master list of all of the things you will want to plug into the open slots in your days.  Last week’s post talked about how to figure out what to do next – take a few minutes to read that post.  If you set a focus for the year and related goals, take a look back at those to make sure the items that are on your list help you get where you wanted to go.  Now, review your list again and get rid of some things!  There are many things we think we need to do, that can either be done by someone else or just not done at all.  Ask yourself what would happen if you didn’t do X?  If you can live with the answer, cross it off!  Now prioritize what remains within each category so you have a next action for every category of your life.  Remember this process can be done on paper or in your favorite digital tool.

4.  Plan
Finally it’s time to put it all together.  First take a blank time tracker and plug in all of those everyday must dos for tomorrow– include everything that you have to do from meal prep to kid drop off to brushing your teeth – you now know exactly how much time each of those take.  Now take a look at your prioritized lists and choose what you’re going to fill in the blanks with.  Remember the importance of margin.  You can’t really make back to back meetings work.  What if you need to walk or drive to the meeting or even just take a bathroom break?  That means you’d have to leave one meeting early or arrive at the next meeting late.  Instead of booking yourself solid, give yourself some leeway.  I like to see at least 10 minutes between appointments.  If you have a task that you haven’t or couldn’t time, give your best estimate BUT add 25% to that estimate.  The worst thing that will happen is you finish early and you plug in another task (maybe one that you previously timed so you know that you can absolutely run to the pharmacy and back in 20 minutes.)  Fill up every box in your day’s time tracker even if those boxes say “rest” or “watch TV” or “family time.”  If you give purpose to each slot of your day, you are less likely to squander your time.

5.  Take shortcuts
Always be looking for ways to be more efficient!  Are there things that you can do in the background while you are doing other tasks? – like watching your favorite TV show while you fold laundry.  Be wary of attempting to truly multi-task because that usually leads to poor quality or longer efforts.  Read about the benefits of single tasking in a previous post.  Are there things that you just don’t need to do or can replace with something easier or quicker?  For instance, I believe with my whole heart that a damp  dishrag thrown in the dryer with a wrinkly shirt while I shower is much more efficient than ironing!  Do you really need to re-pot the flowers or is the plastic one they came in just as worthy of the position on your front steps?  Sometimes shortcuts do mean lowering our expectations – I’ve become pretty good at that – but others are just a smarter way of doing things.  Remember to enlist your family and/or be willing to pay for services that help save you time.     

I'd love to hear from you if you try these 5 steps and learn how they worked for you!  Please comment below or email me at info@mylifeinorder.com  If you want to read more about time management, one of my favorite authors who writes on the topic is Laura Vanderkam.  I read (and thoroughly enjoyed), I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time and have her latest book, Off the Clock:  Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done, on my bookshelf ready to read!  
 

Sources:
Photo by Akshar Dave on Unsplash

​“I have so much to do, that sometimes I don’t even know where to start!”  How many times of you heard yourself say those words?  I know that’s how I’ve been feeling the past week.  When we have unexpected things happen, our responsibilities don’t just stop.  Things keep piling up and eventually there is this big bunch of things to do and you almost feel paralyzed because you feel like no one thing is going to make a big enough dent to actually be considered a priority.  In order to know where to start, you have to know ALL that there is to do.  That’s why it’s important to have everything that you need to do in one place, and then you can more easily decide what needs to be done first.  

​I like digital tools, but before technology can help, I have to know what I’m going to put in that tool and how I am going to structure it.  I was feeling really out of control last week, so I did what always calms me down – got out a pencil and paper and start dumping my brain onto the page.  If you try this, don’t worry about it being pretty or cohesive or anyone else understanding what in the world you’re writing.  It’s so freeing to get what’s in your head onto paper, and then you can actually SEE all the things you need to do.   Unless you are super-human, it’s nearly impossible to figure out what to do and when if everything you have to do is floating around in your head all at once.

​If you’ve read the book The One Thing by Gary Keller, you know that he says there is always one thing that’s more important than everything else at that very moment in time.  Sometimes it’s so hard to figure out what that one thing is and it’s so much easier to just do busywork and make yourself feel like you’re being productive when in fact you’re doing nothing!  A good example of this is spending the entire day working out of your email inbox just responding to messages and taking care of brief little tasks, and then putting other, bigger projects aside for “later”.  If you do that type of triage all the time, “later” never comes, and those big tasks begin to create an overwhelming pile.

​I’m trying to unbury myself and am doing this in my personal life using Trello.  It’s a free app that I use on my laptop and on my iPhone where you can create different teams (which I’m using as areas of my life) and within those teams, you can create as many project boards as you want.  These are kind of like digital bulletin boards where you can create lists and tasks.  Trello gives you a visual representation of all of your to-dos and lets you drag and drop them where they go.  I took my handwritten notes and figured out there were several areas of my life:  Me, Family/Friends, Household, Volunteer, Side Hustles, and Work.  I use a different task management system at work called Nozbe.  Some people like to use the same system at home and at work, but I prefer to keep them separate, so I decided for these purposes to nix the work category in my Trello app. 

I started getting so excited about my new system that I spent a lot of time designing it, thinking, “should I have a separate areas for my blog, piano lessons and Clever Container sales or should they all be in one area called Side Hustles?”    I realized I was going down a dangerous path spending more time designing a system than using it!  I’m giving myself permission to start where I’m at and improve as I go.  That’s one of the things I like about Trello – it’s really easy to drag and drop tasks to different lists, put things in different order, and move boards to different teams.
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Once you get going and have all your responsibilities out of your head and in your chosen system, give yourself time to review all tasks and decide what is the “one thing” is that will move you forward, and what the next one is, and the next, etc.  Consider assigning due dates and reminders.  If you have projects that you repeat, create a template so you can copy and repeat what works best for you.  Don’t worry about your system being perfect – an imperfect system is better than no system at all!

Sources:
Photo by Alejandro Escamilla on Unsplash

I’m so ready for back-to-school!  Not because I’m tired of my kids being home for the summer, but because I’m ready to get back into a routine.  I always loved the beginning of the school year as a kid – new clothes and shoes, freshly sharpened pencils, blank notebooks, locker organizers – kind of my dream come true!  I was thinking today about why the beginning of school still excited me as an adult.  Yes, I get to buy supplies for my kids, but there’s more to it than that.  There’s something about a fresh start that appeals to me, and I think we can all learn some lessons from school to help us live our best life this school year.
 
Refresh your wardrobe and get a haircut
Kids usually get a few new outfits and shoes because they’ve grown out of the clothes from the previous school year.  We go through their entire wardrobe and get rid of things that are too small or they won’t wear to avoid any fashion arguments!  This time of year is also a great time to refresh your own wardrobe.  Go through your closet and donate items you haven’t worn in the past several months, items that don’t fit, or ones you just don’t like.  Make a list of what items you need to “fill in the blanks” of your wardrobe.  Watch for sales and treat yourself!  We get our kids a haircut prior to the first day so they look fresh and clean.  Make an appointment for yourself, too.  This could be the one time per year that you spend a little extra or try a new style.  

Keep a regular sleep schedule
Just today, our family discussed what fair bedtimes are for the kids when school starts and what time they need to get up to have plenty of time in the mornings before school.  This will be a big change from our summer routine where the kids’ bedtimes go out the window – and so does mine.  I find myself staying up way too late on a regular basis, but still having to get up at the same time to go to work.  By the end of the summer I’m exhausted and sleeping in late on the weekends to try to catch up.  When school starts, the kids will each have a set bedtime and wakeup time.  I plan to create my own, reasonable bedtime as well as a wakeup time that doesn’t involve the snooze button!

Eat healthy breakfasts and pack a lunch
When school is in session, I make more of an effort to feed my kids a healthy breakfast to give them a good start to their day.  It’s so easy for us as busy adults to skip breakfast or scarf down something on the go.  When school starts, it’s a great opportunity to plan your morning to include a healthy breakfast at the table with your family.  Many days my kids pack their lunches, and we have various options that are easy to pack and are fairly healthy.  Packing a lunch for myself alongside the kids will help me not only to save money on eating out, but help to control my portion size and the nutritional value of what I eat for lunch.

Embrace a fresh start and the opportunity to learn new things
Kids literally start the school year with a blank slate, and they have the opportunity to take new classes from new teachers.  It’s a great time of year for us to forgive ourselves for failed attempts in the past and make new resolutions and plans for new habits.  Is it time for us to take a class, read a book, attend a webinar about something new?

Be active and enjoy recess
My kids have gym class at least once a week, and recess every day.  They also participate in sports during the school year.  I need to follow suit and be more active.  I can use the time they spend at sports practices to be active myself, and why not enjoy a “recess” during the day and take a quick walk?

Create systems to manage time
With all the commitments kids have these days, they have to learn to manage their time, plan ahead and just plain remember what all they need to do!  We are in the process of finalizing what the daily routine will be and then will create a checklist to keep track of it all.  I will print out a grid with the items that need completed down the left-hand side with the days of the week across the top.  The paper will go in a page protector and be displayed on the fridge with a magnetic clip.  The kids will use a dry erase marker to mark off their daily accomplishments.  This makes it reusable, but also easy to change if we add or take away a responsibility.  It’s great to pair one of your own responsibilities to your kids’ – for example, when they practice piano, you wash dishes or when they do homework, you read.  Consider planning your day the night before with specific timebound tasks.  Always overestimate how long it will take you to do things so that you don’t get frustrated!

Cut back on screen time
During the school year, our kids don’t have any screen time from Monday to Thursday (unless homework requires it.) We started this a couple of years ago, and it’s amazing – attitudes are much improved and since there is no expectation of screen time, we don’t hear whining or complaining.  This means my husband and I don’t turn on the TV until after the kids are in bed, and sometimes we don’t even turn it on at all.  It’s my goal to use the time I normally would watch TV to do other things – read, play board games, talk to my husband, take bubble baths, take a walk, etc.

Catch up with friends
One of the best parts of the first day of school for me was always seeing my friends that I hadn’t seen much over the summer.  We would catch up and tell each other what we did over the vacation.  We looked forward to eating lunch together and playing at recess together.  As adults, why don’t we designate the start of the school year as a time to plan some lunch dates and fun activities with old friends?

The fact is, there are always going to be distractions.  We can have a plan for an ideal day, but unless we build in some flexibility and learn to go with the flow, we will end up frustrated and unproductive.  I've worked in many different environments over the years - in a cubicle in an open office, in several offices with doors with varying amounts of people nearby, at a desk in a wide open area, and even at home.  Each present their own challenges, but there are a few universal tips that help to keep me focused.

1. Set low expectations
This may sounds strange, but don't make a huge list of all the things you want to accomplish in a day only to be disappointed in yourself when you can't complete them all.  Instead, identify your Must Do's - usually this will be 2-3 things that HAVE to get done during the day.  The time these take will vary, so if your Must Do's for the day are very short tasks, you can have more or if they are labor intensive, maybe just pick one.  If you get through all of these, then you'll feel like a rock star and everything else you accomplish will be gravy!  ​

​2.  Meet with yourself
Create a MEeting (a meeting with yourself) to do your most important work.  Go so far as to schedule this on your calendar so that others don't think you're free all day when in fact you need several hours to complete your critical tasks.  Use some of this time to plan and identify your must do's for the following day.

5.  Plug your ears
Don't actually stick your fingers in your ears, but use ear buds or headphones!  You don't even have to listen to music, just put those earbuds in to instantly block out noise and trick people into not bothering you.  Most people will think twice about tapping you on the shoulder if you have ear buds in.  Again, you're not being a meany, you're protecting your own productivity.  If you can work with music in the background, find a playlist designed for focus and jam out!

6.  Plan to waste time
We all need a break and some socialization.  Plan for small periods of time to do this throughout the day.  Get to work a few minutes early on Monday to chat about the weekend with your coworkers, or plan a lunch date or a break at the same time as the people you most want to talk to.  Get up and move every hour - even a bathroom break counts.  Drink lots of water and the bathroom breaks will take care of themselves!  A quick walk outside does wonders for your concentration when you get back to your desk.

7.  Keep track of your time
Write down the time you start and stop each task.  For me, when I'm being timed, I'm more efficient.  I also learn how long it really takes me to do things so that I can be more realistic with myself.  I'm not going to get through my email inbox in 5 minutes, but there are other tasks that will fit into that short of a time frame.  I'm also less likely to waste time when it is written down on a piece of paper.  It also helps me look back and give myself grace when I don't get my Must Do's complete because I can see that I spent 5 hours in meetings, 2 hours dealing with urgent and unplanned tasks, leaving not a lot of time to get those things I wanted to do complete.  Consider using the Pomodoro technique (25 minutes of deep work, a 5 minute break, repeat)  I wrote in depth about this in a previous post.

If time is really dragging for you, write down the time you'll be at work down in 30 minute increments (ex. 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.; 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.; 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., etc.) and mark them off as the time passes.  You know that little high you get when you check an item off of a to-do list?  You get that same feeling for marking the time off, but you also get the feeling that you better kick it into high gear because your available time is waning.

8.  Get creative with your schedule and workspace
If you work in an environment where you can control your schedule in any way, use this to your benefit!  Sometimes coming in 30 minutes before everyone else (or just that one person who talks so much) can allow you to get as much done as you would have in three times that long during your regularly scheduled time.   Take your lunch opposite of those in your vicinity to allow for some quiet time while the others take their lunch.  Try working in an alternate space, like a conference room or vacant office, if you have something to complete that takes high focus.  Consider a working lunch away from the office.  If you have the option to work from home, give it a try.  Many people find it much less distracting at home, while others need the structure of an office to keep them on task.

Give these 8 tips a try and let me know if they help you.  I'm not going to lie and say that I can always stay distraction-free or perfectly productive, but I have learned that these tricks do help!  Do you have other tips to share?  Please post in the comments.
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I like to be self-sufficient, and I enjoy learning new things or figuring out how to accomplish a new task.  There are some types of tasks that I won't even attempt, but for most things, I'll at least do a little Googling or YouTube video watching and give it a go.  Though this "I can do it" attitude may help me become more well-rounded, save a little money, and keep things interesting, it can also severely impact my productivity and can create frustration both for me and my family!  Over time, I've learned that there is real value in finding the right person for the job!

At work and at home, it's impossible for us to do it all, though I'm guilty of trying to do it anyway.  I used have a hard time with the group project concept.  I felt like it would just be easier to do it all myself.  At least that way, I knew it would get done.   Doing it myself meant that I knew the progress of the project and the barriers to getting it completed so I could figure out ways to overcome the barriers and meet the deadline.  This mentality causes stress, burnout, and ultimately leads to lower quality work and delayed results.  Why is it then, that it's so hard to relinquish a little control and trust others to help me? ​

​A great example of how finding the right person to do the job produced fantastic and quick results was when I wanted to create a logo for my blog.  I had an idea in my head, but I thought it would be too difficult for me to articulate that to someone else, so I tried to do it myself. I tried and tried to bring my vision to life, but without the proper tools or expertise in graphic design, I just couldn't produce something I was happy with.  I considered hiring someone, but I talked myself out of that by rationalizing that I was saving money by doing it myself and I could remain authentic to my own creative plans for my logo.  Well, what happened is that I didn't launch my blog because I didn't have what I felt was the perfect logo, and I became more and more frustrated and wasted a LOT of time. ​

​I now am much more inclined to hire work done or ask for help and suggestions.  The old saying, "time is money" is so true.  I could spend ten times as long doing something that would be a lower quality than if I hired the right person for the job.  I could use that time in a different way to produce real results.  I'm a big believer in frugality, so of course I don't hire someone to do everything for me!  I pick and choose what I can afford, what meets the biggest and most urgent need, and what I don't want to or don't have the capacity to learn how to do myself.  There are some things that are just fun to dabble in and the difference in the end result of me doing it versus a professional wouldn't be that noticeable, but then there are all the other things where an expert is definitely the right choice.  

This concept also applies to situations at home or work where we would should delegate a task to someone who is best equipped to do it.  Best equipped can mean they are an expert or they have the capacity to become an expert or simply that they have time to do the task.   When we delegate, though, we have to learn to accept the results may not be exactly as if we had done the task ourselves.  I have my kids do certain chores at home, and maybe the cleaning isn't quite as thorough as I would have done it, but it's done and I was able to complete other tasks instead. 

​I also try to remember that it's all about choice.  By choosing to do something myself (or learn how to do something on my own), I am also choosing not to spend that time on something else.  To get and keep my life in order, I have to learn to choose to spend my time wisely so that there is time for the things I'm good at, time for the things I enjoy doing, time for the things I am required to do, and most importantly, time for the people I love.

​"I feel good today - ordered, calm, focused, pretty, competent. Ah, so rare, but so nice! Why today?" This is what I wrote in my journal one day several months ago. After that, it was my quest to figure out what I'd done differently that day which caused me to be in such a good mood. I made a list of what had happened that day, and then made a plan on how to recreate it. I wanted to make the rest like my best!

Here's my list and what it taught me:

I did not check email or the news in the morning.
I normally checked email and news first thing in the morning, and usually there was something negative in the headlines or something stressful in my inbox. That morning, I didn't let my device control me. I realized I didn't feel as down during the morning when I wasn't consumed by negative thoughts. New plan - no news til lunch time and no email until I've at least taken a shower! The only problem is sometimes I feel that I’m not keeping up on current events as much as I should. It’s a tough balance between being informed and staying positive!
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I sent a message to a friend and received a reply.
I sent a Facebook message to a friend because they were on my mind, and they messaged me right back. Having that connection made me smile. I decided that everyday, I'm going to reach out to at least one friend- it could be in person, on the phone or via a message on Facebook, Snapchat, etc. I’ve been doing this faithfully, and I love this so much! It’s fun to let my friends know they are on my mind and even better to hear back from them!

I spent time doing my hair, makeup and picked out a cute outfit.
That morning, I had the time (and took the time) to fix myself up a bit. It made me feel confident, put together, and in control. I realized that too often, I sported the "I didn't have time nor do I care" look, especially during the work week. I vowed to put on a little makeup and make an effort with my hair every morning. Time was my biggest barrier, so I tried washing my hair at night and using dry shampoo every other day. I also planned to do what I knew worked for me - picking out my outfit the night before. Last week's blog post explored this phenomenon in a little more detail - how we look impacts how we feel. I still enjoy a good no makeup (or shower) day, but that’s more of the exception than the rule these days.

​I encourage you to go give this a try - remember one of your best days, and really think about what you did and which of those things you can recreate or even improve upon. Don’t think you can do everything every day, but even small changes will make a difference!  I'd love to hear your thoughts, please share with us in the comment section below.

This week I announced that I'm giving away a copy of the book, Get Momentum: How to Start When You're Stuck by Jason and Jodi Womack.   (If you're reading this before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, March  21, 2018 there's still time to enter to win!)  I highly recommend this book to help you get started on any project whether it be personal, work, or a passion project.  Get Momentum first helps you to figure out why you're stuck and then breaks down getting momentum into 5 steps:

The very first step kind of stopped me in my tracks: "What do I want to be known for?" Before I even read the chapter, I made a quick list (in no particular order of importance):​

After I made the list and really thought about my day-to-day life, I began to wonder how others really saw me.  Just because this is what I WANT to be known for doesn't mean that this is how the world is seeing me - I have to take action to make sure these qualities are visible.  There's no doubt I want these things to be true about me, but what am I DOING to make them true, and what should I avoid to negate these statements?  I can be kind most of the time, but if I'm unkind some of the time, will that cancel out a perception of my kindness? or will the world take the time to weigh my kindness against my unkindness and award me with being "known for" the one that I've done the most?  Without putting pressure on myself to be perfect, how can I Iive to create the kind of legacy I want to leave?  

This is heavy stuff!  Thankfully, there were more exercises in the book to help me work through all of this.  One of the activities that helped me the most was figuring out how I spent my time.  As I've mentioned before, time is one of my weaknesses, so I needed to figure out if I was proving what I wanted to be known for by how I was spending my time.

• Was I being present with my kids? 
• How much time was I working on staying "on top of things" at home and at work? 
• How often was I actually helping someone else achieve a goal? 

I've tried various methods of tracking my time in the past, from pen and paper to an elaborate spreadsheet I created, but I decided to try something new this time and downloaded the Toggl app at the recommendation of some of my productive friends.  This let me track my time in real time with a stopwatch-type feature or record my time later if I forgot to start the clock.  After a week or so, I could look at a high level pie chart to see how I was spending my time.  I could easily see that I was working way more than I was spending time with my kids and family (even when I kind of cheated and counted driving to the grocery store with the kids in the back seat as "family time!")

The real difference maker was when I answered the next couple of questions in the exercise.  The first was: "What do I wish were different?"  You may have heard the saying, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."  Insane may be a bit of an overstatement, but if I want things to be different, I'm going to have to change.  I think we could all make a long list of what we'd like to be different in our lives, but what are we doing to make that happen?  If you're like me, I've gotten to this point before - I know what I want things to be like and then make a giant plan of all the things I'm going to change to make it happen.  And then I fail because that amount of change all at once is overwhelming. 

That's why the second question this section asked was really valuable to me:  "Do I really need to make changes now?  Should and can I wait?"  Yes, I definitely need to make some changes, but which of them are critical or should be done first?  It takes time to form new habits - longer than you'd think.  Gretchen Rubin, author of many books including Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of our Everyday Lives, wrote about this in her blog post, "Stop Expecting to Change Your Habit in 21 Days."  Give yourself time and space to make a change and really master it before adding more change.  ​

I chose one change to start with - during the school week, I will try not to work on my day job or on my passion project (this blog!) from the time I get home until the kids go to bed unless they are involved in some way that they enjoy.  This should include checking email on my phone... I'm doing better, but I'm still not perfect.  If I can involve the kids and they enjoy it, then that's a win-win.  For example my oldest son has been helping me with live Facebook videos - that's fun for both of us.  By making that one change,  I'm working toward one of the things I want to be known for - being present and involved with my kids and family because we are using that time to play family games, read together, or just talk.

I will add some more changes soon - once the family time on weeknights is a real habit.  In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my short list of what I want to be known for front of mind as I make decisions or even speak - is what I'm about to do or say going to cause others to "know me" for being kind or helping them achieve their goals; is how I'm choosing to spend my time helping me stay on top of my responsibilities?  If the answer is no, I need to rethink my actions!

How about you - have you thought about what you want to be known for and what that really means in your daily life?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.  If Get Momentum sounds like a book you'd like to read, you can earn entries for the giveaway by visiting the Facebook page and/or simply like and comment on this post below before Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 9 p.m.  to get an entry!  

​Sources

Womack, Jason W., and Jodi Womack. Get Momentum: How to Start When You're Stuck. Wiley, 2016.
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Rubin, Gretchen. “Stop Expecting to Change Your Habit in 21 Days.” Gretchen Rubin, 16 Oct. 2009, Stop Expecting to Change Your Habit in 21 Days.

Photo by Niklas Rhöse on Unsplash
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Hi, my name is Claire, and I'm a list maker. Here's a list of some of my confessions about being a list maker:

1. I enjoy making lists more than I like doing the stuff on the lists.
2. I've written things on a list after I've already done them just so I could check them off.
3. I sometimes crumple up a list and throw it in the trash if I've made a mistake or put things in the wrong order and then start over so the list looks nice and neat.
4. Lists seem to taunt me when there are unchecked items, and I feel inadequate if I don't complete my unrealistic list.
5. Lists make me feel in control even when I'm not.

Are there more list makers out there? Considering the massive amount of options available for both digital and analog list making tools, I don't think I'm alone! Several months ago I did a poll on Facebook about digital vs. paper tools, and I was surprised by how many people preferred paper! There are many advantages to paper: it's accessible and affordable, and there's research that writing things down actually helps us process and remember written material better than digital. In a study done by researchers at Princeton University and UCLA Los Angeles, it was discovered that students who took handwritten notes remembered facts and comprehended subject matter better than students who typed their notes. Now, making a to-do list isn't the same as listening to a lecture, but when you write something down, you do process it differently. On the flip side, there are many advantages to digital tools including the ability to edit and reorder tasks without having to start from scratch. Many digital tools also allow you to categorize tasks, assign due dates, set reminders, and even share or delegate tasks. ​So, what's the best answer? I think it's a little bit of both! I like to start and finish with paper with a digital solution sandwiched in between. Here's my current process:

​ Digitize (or at least categorize)
Now that I have everything I know I need to do or remember either written down or stuck to the wall, I add it to my digital system.  If it's an actual to-do item, I add it to the task management program I use, Nozbe.  (If you missed it, check out the recent post where I interviewed the founder and CEO of Nozbe!)  The key is to categorize the tasks in a way that make sense to you.  It could be by project, by due date, by the tool you need to do the task, etc.  Though I think it's easier to do this in a digital system, you could do it on paper if you don't mind rewriting your list often.  Tasks that have defined time frames, like an appointment, should go on a calendar.  Again, my preference is digital so I can access it on the go, but you could go old school and use a paper calendar if you prefer.  If it's something that I just need for reference later, I either file it in physical files or add it to a digital system like Evernote.  A great example of this is when I wrote down in a brain dump that I needed new makeup but I couldn't remember the brand or shade I liked.  I added "buy makeup" to my digital to-do list, but I also added a picture of the front and back of each type of makeup I use to a note in Evernote, so when I am at the store, I can pull up my app and be sure to get exactly what I know I like!  Regardless if you go digital or stay analog, it is necessary to maintain your system with regular reviews so you can trust your process includes everything you need to remember and nothing you don't! 

​Daily Written List
Finally, we come full circle to pen and paper!  Each day, I physically make a list of the items from my digital tools that I need to do that day.  You might think, "why not skip the whole digital middle section?"  If I don't go through that process, I end up with one giant list that includes tasks from all sorts of different projects and with various due dates.  My digital system makes it easy for me to filter through my tasks so I can choose appropriate ones for the day.

There are three keys to making a daily written list:

1. Make it the night before.
2. Make it time-bound.
3. Make it realistic.

Making your list the night before gets things out of your head so you can sleep better, which will help you be more productive the next day.  Making your list time-bound helps you to stay on track throughout the day.  There are certain markers in your day that HAVE to happen at a certain time or before or after another task.  Put those in, and then you know how much time you have to work on your other to-do list items.  Making it realistic is probably the most important part!  Overestimate how long it takes to do things so you can actually accomplish your daily goals.  Limit the number of big tasks to around three. Nobody ever got mad at themselves for getting everything on their list done!

I try to make my daily list right before I go to bed - sometimes in bed with my nightlight.  I look at my digital calendar first and then my digital task manager.  I fill in everything I'm going to need to do the next day from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed.  I only put times next to the things that are on the calendar or relate to a goal I have about how long I'll spend on a certain task, and I also specify what time I'll get up or go to bed.  Throughout the day, I reference my list to keep myself on track.  If I can't get something completed, I just highlight it; if something gets cancelled, I draw a wavy line through it.  When I make my list for the next day, I look back at my highlighted items to make sure they don't get forgotten.  I also make sure to continue to add and mark off items in my digital tools on a daily basis.  

For all you fellow list makers out there, I'd love to hear your comments about your system and any tips or tricks you have for keeping everything straight!  Happy list making!

​We all want to get the most stuff done in less time - especially if that stuff is not all that enjoyable. You can tell what people like and are good at by what they spend their time doing.  Well, it is pretty obvious that I do NOT like, nor am I particularly good at, reviewing giant, dry policy documents!   Recently I had a document like this that needed my review and edits, and I procrastinated long enough that I HAD to get it done at home over a weekend.  I needed to come up with a strategy to just get it done and in the least painful way possible.  

I read and listen to a ton of productivity content, so I was certain I had the secret sauce, the Pomodoro Technique.  Basically this is where you set a timer for a certain amount of time (suggested 25 minutes) and plow through your deep work until the timer goes off.  Then you force yourself to take a small break (suggested 5 minutes) when you get up, move and do something you like, and then repeat over and over until you’re done.  It works, but it still doesn’t make it fun…. Here’s how my Pomodoro-assisted day went, and what I learned.

I was ready to slay this thing and arranged for my family to be away for a few hours so I had the house to myself.  I got everything situated to give myself every opportunity to succeed - and hopefully succeed quickly.  I got out my laptop, my lap desk, my document for review and sat in the most comfortable place in my house - the recliner in the living room.  I set my iPhone’s timer for 25 minutes - now I don’t call it cheating that I set the timer before I logged into my computer - I call that smart because that eased me into that first 25 minutes of reading and editing this document.  I worked diligently, but AS soon as that timer went off, I jumped up with a little “Woohoo” escaping my mouth.  I set the timer for 5 minutes and did something I wanted to do.  Wait for it….organized my coupons.  The 5 minute break went so fast, but I did obey the rules and go back to my work for another 25 minutes.  I did this three times, and by that third, 5 minute break, my coupons were organized which was pretty cool.  By this time I was really hating the Pomodoro Technique.  Doing the review of my document was so boring, and there were all sorts of other things I’d rather be doing on a Saturday - especially a Saturday at home ALONE - that never happens!

So by this time I was fizzling out a little so I decided it wouldn't hurt, and I’d still be following the spirit of the Pomodoro Technique, if I set the time for 20 minutes instead of 25 (right?). Then I was like, “maybe I’ll have a snack during my break.” I chose Death By Chocolate ice cream, so I rationalized that my break would have to last just a little longer than 5 minutes because I didn’t want the ice cream to melt and then get my hands all sticky and in turn ruin my computer’s keyboard.  Then I was back at it, but I was B-O-R-E-D with this process - I mean I had done over an hour and a half’s worth of work, so I decided maybe it would be ok to just do 15 minutes of work this session.  This 166 page document was just SO long, and I was only halfway through. I started watching the clock, and time crawled until it was finally break time.  I decided with this break, I should take a shower (I did have that sticky ice cream after all…). Honestly, it was longer than a 5 minute break.  But the important thing is I went back to work, and I kept going til I was done.  

I think by the end, my break time was longer than my work time, but the moral of the story is - - even with a boring task you may dislike - be it reviewing a document or organizing your closet, the Pomodoro Technique DOES work, but you don’t have to do it exactly as advertised.  If you need a longer break, take a longer break, and don’t make yourself feel guilty for needing to!  Productivity is individual, so a one-size-fits-all approach will not work and may actually produce the opposite results if you get discouraged.  Give yourself permission to “cheat” at being productive as long as you get to the finish line.

My husband has a superpower - his awareness of time.  He can be away from anything that would give him a clue to what time of day it is for hours, and still, if someone asked him what time it was, he’d be correct within 10 minutes.  Always - I’ve never seen him fail at this - seriously.  He also has an uncanny ability to estimate correctly how long it’s going to take to drive somewhere or complete a task. I’m so envious because time is my nemesis!  I regularly underestimate how long it takes to do things and sometimes get lost in a task and lose track of how much time has passed.  I live 5 minutes away from a different time zone, so you'd think I would have become an expert by now at converting time, but I honestly still often Google time zone conversions.  And my brain nearly exploded back when Indiana adopted Daylight Savings Time.  Since we "fell back" last night, my time deficiency reared it's ugly head again.  I literally made a chart to figure out how it would work!
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It really bothers me that I struggle with time awareness - especially since I pride myself in being organized and a planner.  For the past couple of years, I have chosen a word or two to focus on for the year.  This year, I chose “time.”  After contemplating what I wanted to improve on and how I could do that, I realized something.  My natural inability to be aware of or estimate time has actually been what has improved my organizational, planning and time management skills.  I think because I crave control over time, and can’t do it naturally, I’ve had to come up with systems to do so.  This allows me to complete a project by a deadline, fit a lot of tasks into one day, develop plans to assure all bases are covered when I have multiple projects going on at once.

One way I’ve started improving on time awareness is so simple - just a little mantra I’ve started saying to myself.  When I see something that needs done, instead of storing it in my head, I say to myself, “take the time” and just do it right then.  This clears my head, gives me a feeling of accomplishment, and helps me to be aware of how much (or little) time that task actually takes.  I do this for picking up a piece of paper off the floor, putting away my jewelry as I take it off, writing down something I need from the store right when I think of it, cutting out a coupon and putting it away instead of stacking the entire ad somewhere for later, and the list goes on and on.  

​Another tool I’ve been using is the stopwatch feature on my phone.  By timing myself, I found that it takes way less time to empty the dishwasher than I thought it did (6 minutes -- who knew?!?)  and way more time to empty my inbox every morning!  This helped me to start fitting in tasks that only take a few minutes into the small pockets of time I have throughout the day as well as to plan better for the tasks that take longer.  I used to allow only 15-30 minutes to get settled in at the office, process my email inbox, process any paper on my desk, review my tasks for the day and choose my must dos.  I rarely, if ever, accomplished all of that in the allotted time because it just wasn’t possible.  This would cause me to either do the tasks poorly, skip steps and/or feel like a failure every day for not meeting my goal.  After I timed myself for a few days, I found that to do these things well and completely, I needed an hour, on average, each morning.  Setting a realistic expectation for myself helps me not get discouraged and actually be more productive in that hour.

I now use a timer to help me stay on task and not get so consumed in one task that I forget to work on other priorities.  I also use the Pomodoro technique for intense projects that might not be my favorites.  That is where you set a timer and work for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break and repeat until the task or project is completed.  There will be a whole post about how this has worked for me coming up soon.  

I used to sometimes lose track of time and be late for a meeting.  It wasn’t that I was spacey, it was that I was getting some deep work done!   I started setting an alarm that makes some sort of funny noise that I couldn’t ignore.  The typical 15 minutes before a meeting alarm was too far in advance.  I’d see that I had a FULL quarter of an hour left and would try to get just one more thing done - then I’d end up being late anyway.  Now I do 10 minutes which is enough time to finish whatever thought I was on, gather my materials, go to the restroom and walk to the meeting, but not long enough to start any new tasks.  
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I’m still not “good” at time, but I’m becoming more aware of it and using tools to make time work for me instead of against me.  I think getting a handle on our time automatically helps us feel in control of our lives and equates to a sense of order.  Have you used any of these tips or have others that you could share with us?