Get back to ‘Everyday-ness’ first, THEN look at your New Year!

I love the holidays. I really do.  We’ve been blessed with wonderful times with friends and family, meaningful worship, rest and relaxation.

However, after many days of celebrations, I also love the return to “everyday-ness”. “Everyday-ness” was a term coined by Father Matt at Mass yesterday, in the context of “we need ‘everyday-ness’ to appreciate Celebrations”, and vice versa.

I liked the term, and it started me thinking.  We have to start with the basics, our routines, our ‘everyday-ness’ before we can move on to the bigger stuff.

Shower right away when you get up in the morning (unless you are that dedicated soul who actually exercises first thing).  I know, you may want to wake slowly or linger over coffee, but just shower already.  And if you’re thinking “well, I can do it later, or maybe i’ll work out later so I’m just going to sit around and stink until then”, just do it.  You can do it again later if you need to.

Have you ever noticed how your schedule gets snagged with “I”ll run my errands / get dressed / check in with work / leave the house / do anything productive AFTER I SHOWER” and then you delay this jump start to your day?  It’s not complicated, do it and get on with things.

Make your bed.  Yes, seriously.  You can send me links on Facebook for the fear-inducing microscopic images of creatures that will grow in your bed if you make it every day, and I will still say Make Your Bed.  Studies show a strong correlation between happiness and productivity and daily bed making, look it up.  Plus, if you wash your body and your sheets regularly, those creatures in the facebook images won’t survive.

Put actual clothes on, if you, too, have been lounging for a few days. Nothing productive ever happens in your fuzzy bathrobe or yesterday’s sweat pants.

Put stuff AWAY!   Have piles of things lingering around?  Unopened mail, opened Christmas gifts, clean dishes, clean laundry  (These are the things that I needed to put away this morning)? What’s in your piles?  Well, put it all away!

Feeling productive yet?  I bet you are!  NOW……   On to the Big Stuff!  This is a great week for planning.  These bonus weeks around Christmas and New Years present a great opportunity to do some Big-Picture dreaming / planning / imagining for your new year!

We’ll talk more about resolutions in the weeks to come, as well as strategic planning your whole house organizing, cleaning your virtual work space, organizing your finances for the new year, and that’s just January (can you tell I planned my blog topics today?)!  Happy New Year!

To:

Receive more ideas and suggestions like these;
Book time with me in person or virtually;
Arrange a presentation for your upcoming event; or
Discover the benefits of Organizational Coaching;

Please contact me.

Call / text 708.790.1940
Online at  http://peaceofmindpo.com
www.Facebook.com/MColleenKlimczakCPO
Via Twitter, @ColleenCPO

Tips for Getting Our Christmas Shopping Done!

The irony is not lost on me, friends.  A month ago, I decided this week’s blog topic would be christmas-present-lgabout gift buying /  wrapping, and I am not done with buying or wrapping.  So this will be a learning week for all of us.
Can I be honest here? I really dislike shopping.  I love giving gifts, but I hate to shop.  So, handling this necessary evil as efficiently and effectively as possible over the next few days will allow me to get on with the more enjoyable parts of the Christmas Season!

So how are we going to get this all done?  Buck up, little camper – We can do this, I promise!  Here’s how:
1. Start with Gratitude. Gratitude for the people in your life.  Gratitude for the Holidays, however you choose to celebrate.  Gratitude for the means to give gifts and share love.
2. Make the list and check it twice.  Naughty? Nice? really, who am I to judge?  To whom are you giving gifts?  This isn’t just the gifts you will exchange, go ahead and list everyone you need to buy for, like thank you gifts for teachers and coaches, or service people.
3. Cha-ching:  Add a budgeted dollar amount next to each person’s name, to keep you on track.
4. Ideas: Add any ideas that you have for each person on the list. Don’t wrack your brain (yet), just list the ideas that you have.  We’ll get to the brainstorming for more ideas in a bit.
5.  Review any gifts you’ve already purchased, and note that on the list, too.
6. Go through the gift stash. Do you have a Gift Stash somewhere in your home?  You should.  Basic Hostess Gifts, candles and nice bottles of wine are always welcome.
7.  Take Care of Business.  You have your list, your ideas, your budget and what you’ve already purchased.  Now we start to match things up.  Is there anyone on your list that you’re done shopping for?  Pat yourself on the back, and then move them to the Done List!  Can any of the gifts you have on hand (gift cards, candles, etc.) go to anyone on the list?
8.  If you still need ideas, now is the time to brainstorm:  Ask friends, ask family, google “popular gifts for xxx age kids/women/men”, etc.  I plowed through my reading pile while traveling last week, and found some great ideas in my favorite magazines (like Real Simple).
9. Get Shopping:  So, since I started this blog article this morning, I have made some progress.  I stocked up on hostess gifts, added errands to my to-do list for the next few days, and assembled my coupons and gift cards to do my on-line shopping in the next few days. Now I just need to spend an hour or two plowing through the rest of my list.
So stop reading, and get to it!  I hope by this time next week, we’re all done with our shopping and doing something more fun (like wrapping the gifts?)!

An Organized “Deck the Halls”!

It’s time to deck those halls!  Boughs of holly, optional.  Here are 6 tips to help with christmas-clip-art-holidays_christmas_holly_1the process!

1. First-Out-Last-In Box: There was a moment over the weekend when I silently thanked my January 2015 self for taking a little extra time and care putting stuff away after last Christmas.  Our First-Out-Last-In Box is just that – the box of decorations that comes out at the beginning of Advent, and most of the stuff in it stays out until after New Years.  In January, the box sits, mostly filled, in my laundry room for a few weeks as the last few straggling decorations get corralled and put away until the next Christmas.   Which leads me to….

2. Remember what is important.  For me, Christmas is about the spirituality of Advent, the birth of our Lord, and spending special time with family and friends.  Therefore, we put out our Advent wreath and Calendar and and Nativity Scene first.  The creche stays up until we celebrate the Epiphany on January 6th.  We add table runners, candles and a wreath on the door, and the tree and the rest of the decorations wait until mid-December.


Edited, 11/29/2016: 

2.5. As you decorate your home this year, Consider the scary and unloved decorations that haven’t made it out of the box this year, or for the past few years (see my recent Halloween Decor article, http://peaceofmindpo.com/2016/10/18/what-if-your-hal…ot-in-a-good-way/!). Now is the time to toss the icky stuff!  Pass things along to loved ones, sell stuff on FB, donate items to your local charity – NOW, while they are accepting and re-selling Holiday decorations.

3.  You have two options, pick your favorite.  One option is to bring all your holiday decorations into your main living space, unload them all and distribute your stuff (then put the boxes away).  The other option is to open the boxes in your storage area, take out just what you need and leave the boxes in storage, then decorate a bit at a time.   Both options work, just choose.

And when you’re ready to put up your holiday decor:

4. De-decorate.  Take down the every-day decor.  Honestly, there’s not always room for both. every day and holiday.  Dedicate one of the empty holiday decoration containers (you have nice, solid, plastic water-and-bug proof containers, right?) to the non-holiday decor, and leave that container close to your storage access. This will make re-decorating after the holidays so much easier!

5.  De-decorate,  then dust.  Then decorate for Christmas.  Then vacuum.  Glitter, pine needles, glitter, scraps of paper, glitter.

6.  Put your empty decoration containers away.  Yes, all the way away.  Don’t tuck them in a closet, or leave them piled in your basement. Put them back in the crawl space / attic, etc.  Your holiday stuff could be out for a month, do you really want to stumble over empty boxes for that long?

Enjoy!!  Fa-la-la-la-laaaaa- la-la-la-la!

To:

Receive more ideas and suggestions like these;
Book time with me in person or virtually;
Arrange a presentation for your upcoming event; or
Discover the benefits of Organizational Coaching;

Please contact me.

Call / text 708.790.1940
Online at  http://peaceofmindpo.com
www.Facebook.com/MColleenKlimczakCPO
Via Twitter, @ColleenCPO
Via LinkedIn, M. Colleen Klimczak, CPO

Organize Your Kitchen for the Holidays: Do This, Not That

Success is not always about getting everything just right.

Instead, success may be about doing the fewest things wrong.

My priest at Mass this weekend made this statement, referencing a recent high school football game where the winning team had fewer penalties than their opponents, and therefore more opportunities to score (In full disclosure, my husband had to explain to me – the football novice – why fewer penalties might lead to higher scoring).

This week’s blog topic was swirling in my head this weekend, too, and I realized that Organizing your Kitchen successfully (or anything else) can be about doing fewer things wrong, too.   And ‘doing fewer things wrong’ may feel more attainable than doing everything just right!

So if you are familiar with these Wrongs, we can make them right!

1.  Wrong: Starting an Organizing Project Without a Plan.

Right: The quickest way to derail a project is to start without a plan.  Assemble your kitchen organizing tools (garbage and recycling bags, your grocery list, some good music and a timer set for 30-60 minutes), and get started.  Pick a starting spot (like the fridge), systematically decide to keep or toss your items, put back the keepers, and then move on.  DO NOT just dive in or take everything out of every cabinet all at once!

2.  Wrong: Neither Knowing Nor Using What You Have.

Right:  Regularly check your cabinets and refrigerator, and use the food you have on hand before buying more. Always check before you shop!  Leave a shopping list on the fridge, and add items to the list as you run out.

3. Wrong: Procrastinating.

Right:  Well, procrastinating is almost always wrong, but it can cause unnecessary stress around the holidays, and we all know – the holidays are stressful enough!  Pull out the recipes now, start the Who’s-bringing-what conversations with family members now, and start stocking up on holiday specific foods now, just a few things every week.

4. Wrong: Re-Purchasing Something Because You Can’t Find The First One.

Right: Establish a home for certain types of items, so you can check your inventory.  Re-buying items wastes money and contributes to kitchen clutter.  Imagine – If all the canned goods always live on the same cabinet shelf, you can check your inventory at a glance. Establish homes, let everyone know where the home is, and make a habit of putting things AWAY.

5. Wrong: Buying Big Specialty Items That You Only Use Once a Year.

Right: Talk to your friends and family members now, or go on Facebook and find out who has chafing dishes / holiday cookie cutters / a really big turkey platter, and borrow it!  Do not clutter up your kitchen with these specialty items: borrow them, take really good care of them and then give them back!

6. Wrong: Having Stuff on Your Kitchen Counters.

Right: Kitchens are very personal spaces, but they also need to be functional spaces.  Keep your counters clear of stuff – all the time! With clear counters, everything – unpacking grocery bags, making dinner, baking cookies, cleaning up – becomes easier!

So, this week, the pressure is off.  You don’t have to do everything just right!  Doing fewer things wrong is progress enough!

Yes, You Really Can Recycle That!

This week, we see America Recycles Day on November 15th.  Follow this link to my previous America Recycles Day post:

Plus, one of my favorite Recycling Lists from Real Simple:

Because of what I do and who I am, clients and readers ask me questions about recycling all the time!  Here are the 5 most recent queries:

  1. What about Christmas lights: Yes, these can be recycled!  Check with your local Home Depot. My local HD in Oak Lawn will collect old Christmas Lights for recycling at the service desk from now until January.   Check your strings this week, and properly dispose of the old ones!
  2. Paint: Yes, there are ways to recycle paint, or at least lessen used paint’s negative impact on the environment.  If your old paint is still usable, contact your local Ace Hardware or Habitat for Humanity to donate it. If it’s not usable: for water based or latex paint, place the cans outside and loosen the lid,  then once the paint hardens in the can, you can throw it away; for oil based paint, there is an additive (like Waste Away Paint Hardener) you can purchase at your local hardware store to mix with the paint and harden it, then you can throw away the can and paint.  We just don’t want liquid paint to end up in a landfill, as it will seep into the ground and groundwater.
  3. License plates: Some states will let you keep your old plates or recycle them with scrap metal, but not Illinois.  Turn old plates in at the DMV, that’s the safest place for them.
  4. Collectibles:  Re-selling is the ultimate in recycling!  A client had a box of Christmas collectibles that she was no longer attached to.  She sold it and made a couple hundred $$$ doing it – more space and more money, Win Win!!
  5. Batteries: don’t actually have to be recycled.  These days, household batteries are made with less harmful materials than they used to be, and can therefore be thrown away with regular garbage. Some communities will still accept batteries for recycling, but it varies widely from town to town.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve found to recycle?  Please share!

Prioritize your Big Rocks This Week

Pressure.  I’m feeling the pressure.  This week’s blog marks my 300th published blog.  That’s a big deal, right?  I mean, wow, a major milestone.  And my grand idea is… non-existent.  I have a vague idea to write a blog about the life on a solo entrepreneur some day, and I thought that would be today.  But I’m just not feeling it.  I want my blogs to be about You, MY Readers, not about me.

But…. still…. nothing.

After a client cancellation this morning, I found myself with a few free hours.  Presented with a few unscheduled hours  – what to do?  Being the responsible sort, I took care of A LOT of work, woo hoo!!  I followed up with clients, booked appointments, and scheduled a speaking gig for November 7th.  Of 2016!!!  Wow!  Cleared out 2 inboxes, yeah!  Plus mowed and raked, since it is a lovely day.

But mostly, today I wrestled with priorities and how to fit all the big rocks in my jar for the next 2 months ( click here if you don’t know the reference:  http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=264  ) .

I wonder if any of you wrestle with your priorities, too?

Take 30 minutes this week to map out the last two months of 2015, making space for your important priorities!    Here are mine, for the next two months:

Family:  We sent out emails to our fabulous families over the weekend and today about upcoming events, dinners and holidays, to carve out and protect important family time.  (and my brother recently shared this article with me, love it!  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/secrets-danish-happiness_5630f211e4b06317991050dc )

Faith:  My Catholic Faith is very important to me, and with Advent and Christmas coming, I added daily Mass back to my calendar when possible.  And Christmas and all its wonder, of course, but I’m not ready to jump into that pool yet!

Money:  This morning, for the business I paid my bills and balanced my check book.  Better decisions come from being fully informed, so I started there.

Home: We ordered new bedding yesterday, which will get the bedroom paint project moving. There will be more to say in this category, but it was good enough to just put it on my list today.

Business: As mentioned, I have been very productive these last few days, professionally speaking.  I want to end 2015, my highest producing year EVER, strong.  So I cleared away some nagging to-dos, and made positive steps serving a lot of clients in the next few months.

Health:  After a weekend of over-consumption, I recommitted to eating healthier and avoiding sugar and white flour, and making time to exercise.

Saying Yes while Saying No:  I said Yes to events in 2016, but  I’m cautious about saying yes to any more 2015 events.

Fun:  I want something fun every weekend for the rest of the year.  When our travel plans changed this past Sunday, I sat at my computer all day and plowed through a long list of tasks.  Productive and necessary, yes.  Gratifiying, indeed.  Fun or family oriented? Nope, not at all.  So I want movies, hiking, road trips, etc.  Something fun every weekend.

What are your Big Rocks?  This week, plan the rest of 2015 and make room for your important priorities.

Kids and Organizing and Room Cleaning, Oh My!

Kids and Organizing and Room Cleaning have come up in many conversations lately, so obviously there’s a need for kids to organize and clean their space.  But we have to remember that very often, our kids need to learn how to do these things before we can expect them to just “go clean their rooms” when asked.

A few years ago, I helped a man organize his office, and he told me that I was the first person who hadn’t yelled at him to get organized.  His childhood home was not organized, and his frustrated mom would tell the kids to go clean their rooms without teaching the kids what that actually meant.  He had never learned how to clean or organize, and his own family got frustrated with him, too.

As children, we learn to speak, walk and eat on our own.  We learn to socialize and share and grow.  We learn how to study, play music or perhaps play a sport.  We learn to brush our teeth, cook a meal, mow the grass or sew a button.  But we’re not always taught how to organize, or to clean our room.  Some of us are born organized, but others have to learn to organize, and luckily, it is a learnable skill, just like anything else.  But we still have to be taught, or pick up the skills along the way.

Even though it is so much quicker and easier to just clean the room yourself, take the time to Teach your Children how to Organize and Clean their room.  Talk about why we need to clean and organize (saves time, saves money, inspires trust, boosts self confidence and mood, even if we don’t think it does).   Teach and model and encourage.
  • If you’re going to talk the talk, you had better walk the walk.  Make your own bed, pick up dirty laundry, put away clean laundry,  take out your trash.
  • Give every room the tools to clean and organize: a laundry hamper and a trash can.  Every room needs both, so clutter is less likely to pile up.
  • Have everyone start with the basics, every day.  Make the bed, pick up dirty laundry, and put away clean clothes.  EVERY DAY.
  • Create a few rules for everyone to obey, like No Food In the Bedrooms.  Simple, straightforward, and it will save lots of mess later!
  • Celebrate and corral treasures (defined here as objects that we don’t understand, but our child completely adores).  Priceless art, plastic action figures, trophies, plastic jewelry or a gum wrapper from a birthday party.  Some kids (and adults) value EVERYTHING and then clutter piles up.  Install a couple shelves for treasures, dedicated to for those loved objects. Then explain that once the shelves are full, something has to leave the shelf before a new item is added.  Or create a treasure box, and let the same rule apply.  Don’t edit the shelf or bin for your child, but stick to the rule and contain the “treasures”.
  • Cultivate the habit of periodic purges. For example, the Back to School Clothes Review every August.  Or, when our boys were younger, we would go all review toys and books every Fall in prep for the holidays and birthdays, tossing any that were broken, and donating any that were either “too young” for them, or that they just didn’t play with.  (Knowing new toys were coming made it easier for the kids to purge the old stuff).
  • Give your kids a process.  This is on a sign in my sons’ room:
    How to Clean Your Room (Do all of these in this order):
    • Hang up towel
    • Fold blankets
    • Straighten up bed
    • Pick up dirty laundry and hangers, put all in the hamper
    • Put away clean laundry
    • Close dresser drawers completely
    • Put away hats/bags / belts, etc. in appropriate places
    • Put away books on shelf – actually put them away
    • Tidy up surfaces on desk, dresser, etc.
    • Now we can dust, vacuum and take out the trash.
Take some time now to teach others how to clean and organize their space, and reap the benefits for life!

6 Tasks to Create Organizing Momentum This Week!

October in the Midwest is my favorite time of year.  We enjoy crisp air, blue skies and amazing colors.  But if you’ve lived here long enough, you realize the beauty of Fall is God’s way of softening the blow of Winter.    Cold weather will soon be upon us, and that means, among other things, a lot more time spent indoors.So use this week as a super-powered jump start to your organizing projects, and try one of these 6 Tasks to Create Organizing Momentum!
  1. Get your closet ready for colder weather, and finish (or start and finish!) your seasonal clothes swap.  Pull out your summer clothes to make room for your cold weather ones, and critically review the summer stuff, tossing or donating anything you don’t need, use or love.
  2. Winterize your landing / launch pad, too.  Swap out the baseball caps and sunscreen by the back door for hats and mittens. Again, review the summer stuff critically and toss / donate the stuff you don’t need, use or love.
  3. Pantry shopping:  This time of year feels like the time to stock up, but I challenge you to instead clean out the pantry, fridge and freezer for the next few weeks. Use up what you have before buying more. Use food before it expires, save money by not buying new food, clear cabinet clutter –  the ultimate de-clutter strategy for your kitchen!
  4. Prep your car(s) for winter. Pack a safety bag including but not limited to: a blanket, sweatshirt, extra phone car-charger, umbrella, gloves, non-perishable snacks and a bottle of water, tissues, wipes and hand lotion, and snow scraper.
  5. Call and make appointments with your service people this week.  Call the handyman, the furnace guy or the carpet cleaners, and get on the schedule now before their schedules fill up with the holidays.
  6. Drop off Your Donations, and Recycle your Recycling.  Have you decided to get rid of something in your home?  Go ahead and move it along this week.  Selling that air hockey table or those Halloween costumes? Have bags of clothes to donate to a charitable organization?  Or a pile of old computer components and cords?  Send it all on its way! Making decisions is the hardest part of getting organized, so if you’ve made decisions about things that need to go – either donated, sold, recycled or just trashed – then please, spend an hour, load up the car and drop those items off.  Get them out of your house and on to where they will be useful again.

So, what’s it going to be?  Let’s send clutter on its way, and create organizing momentum to get things done!

Let’s make it happen, Cap’n!

We come across great new ideas all the time, but how do we make the good ones stick? Set yourself up to succeed!  In a quick survey today, friends reported they are working on:
  • Regular meditation / exercise;
  • regular blogging;
  • schedule changes in the daily routine;
  • use the calendar on my phone since it always with me;
  • take pictures of children’s sports schedules then toss the paper;
  • grade daily (teacher);
  • perform an outside task (sweeping, raking, weeding, etc.) for 15 minutes daily;
  • drink more water;
  • make time for yourself;
  • know exactly what’s for dinner by breakfast; and
  • make bed every morning.
  • (These are all great ideas, thanks everyone for sharing!)

Here is how to make these happen, Cap’n!

Think it through!
Look at your current situation and the new habit from all sides.  Imagine what success looks like. Conversely, realize that every great new idea may not be for you!  Wonderful people whom I love and admire just ran the Chicago Marathon.  I can love and admire them and their achievements, yet not be want to train for or run a marathon.  Just think it through, for you and your life.
Recognize the potential obstacles.  
Great new habits may conflict with existing habits, by pulling time and resources away from other areas of our lives.  Look objectively at what the new habits require, and prepare to dedicate the time and resources they need.  Looking at the list above, all of these habits require at least a little time every day to execute, so we may have to cut other habits to make room for new ones.
Set up your physical space.  
Let’s look again at the list …
  • For meditation, we need some quiet space in our home, or to find a meditation class.
  • Drink more water?  We can put in a water cooler, buy re-usable water bottles, or get those little flavored drops to add.
  • Use the calendar on our phone?  Make sure to have the phone with us all the time.
  • Make the bed daily?  Clear the piles on the ground that keep you from straightening up.
  • We bought a used car a few weeks ago. I added the keys to my key ring, and rearranged the garage and the cars to make the new car easiest to access.
Set up your mental space.
Why do you want to create this new habit?  What are the end results you want to achieve?  Cement those answers in your mind!  Then make an appointment every day or week to make the habit happen.
Get Buy-In.
To maintain motivation, tell everyone you know about this new habit.  Sharing your plan helps others to help you, and creates accountability. If exercise is your new habit, co-op a friend or co-worker to exercise with you.  If you want to start meditating, tell your family and let them know what times you’d like to avoid interruptions.  Tell everyone the benefits of your new habit for them, because – let’s face it – most people want to know what’s in it for them.
 
Leave reminders..
  • Let’s use the “use the calendar on my phone” habit as an example.
  • Do you like auditory reminders?  Set your alarm for 5 pm every day (or whenever), and mentally review your day to add any scheduling events that need to go into your phone’s calendar.
  • Do you like to talk things out?  Set up a regular meeting with family or co-workers to review and upcoming events, and make sure they are in your electronic calendar.
  • Do you respond to visual reminders?  Leave a post-it note reminder on your paper calendar, to remind you to reach for the phone instead.
  • If your goal is “drink more water”, use even more specific reminders like rubber bands on your water bottle. I carry a 32 oz. bottle all the time, so I might put two rubber bands on the bottle, and move a band from the top to the bottom every time I refill.
Expect setbacks, but don’t give up.  Good habits take three weeks to establish, and years of practice to keep!  Expect some bumps in the road to success, but don’t give up when one occurs.  But the good news is that Good  Habits are worth the work!

Productivity Challenge: Get Up! Sitting at a Desk is Bad for You! 

“Getting Up and Moving Around at Work” has been my intended topic for this week, but I find it amusing that I’m writing it while standing because my hip is sore. I’m blaming the high heels I wore to a weekend wedding, though it could have been the Cupid Shuffle at the reception!

The research is in, and it shows just how bad prolonged sitting at a desk is for our health, our productivity and our happiness.  Too much sitting increases obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and depression; and decreases metabolism, circulation and energy levels.  This challenge is compounded by the fact that so much of our leisure time is also spent sitting – driving, watching TV, sitting at home computers, eating, etc.  This sedentary and seated lifestyle is taking a toll on our bodies.  On a personal note, last winter I went to the Chiropractor because of intense lower back pain, and sitting too long at my desk was part of the problem.

There is a lot of information out there right now supporting standing-while-working and increased activity during the workday.  Standing up and moving around counteracts those negative physical effects of prolonged sitting.  There are also productivity benefits to standing and moving around (just google “productivity benefits of standing work stations”).  My energy and focus increase, while my stress decreases and my mood improves. Just by standing and moving around.

If you need more convincing, please do your own research – I did and I was amazed.  But how to incorporate this strategy into our day?  Try these:

1. Just Pay Attention. Making a change makes us pay attention to our current situation, and this usually leads to increased engagement and productivity.

2.  Include activity breaks in your blocked work time.  The Pomodoro Technique suggests 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break; I’ve also read 50 / 10.  The premise is that our minds focus for a certain amount of time (25 minutes), and then our mind and our body need a break (and not just switching over to Facebook, or checking our phone).   A break means getting up and moving, stretching, breathing deeply.  My phone’s timer App can remind me to take my 5 minutes, or I can use my microwave timer if I’m home – it’s great because I have to get up to turn it off!  The 5 minute break could be standing, stretching, walking around the office; or if you work from home, play with the dog, toss in a load of laundry, make a cup of tea, etc.  Track your progress with a FitBit or activity bracelet.

3. Stay hydrated:  I have learned a lot since my first trip to the chiropractor last winter, including the fact that I was chronically dehydrated.  Add more water to your day, and you will get up and move a lot more, to re-fill your water bottle, and to use the wash room!

4.  Run your own errands.  Technology is great and convenient, but often it replaces actual activity.  Yes, you could send someone an email, but you could also get up and walk over to their work space.  Or drop off papers instead of using interoffice mail, or take a walk at lunch instead of ordering in.

5. Consider a standing Work Space, or other options.  The standing work space is gaining popularity (go to Amazon.com and check out the variety of options!).   We created standing work spaces in our home (here is what I am using right now),  and more traditional offices are offering standing options, too.   We don’t need to only stand, though – my massage therapist reminded me that standing all day could have its own negative effects.   So, change up your space, and include both seated and standing options.

Stand Up!  Don’t let that desk chair do you in, Get Up and Move Around to Feel Better and Work Better!