Category: Productivity

In honor of Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday today, here are Jefferson’s Ten Rules

Jefferson’s Ten Rules

  1. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
  2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
  3. Never spend money before you have earned it.
  4. Never buy what you don’t want because it is cheap.
  5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
  6. We seldom repent of having eaten too little.
  7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
  8. How much pain the evils cost us that never happened.
  9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
  10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred.

I post this with the utmost respect and appreciation.

Organizational Truth #42: When we want to break our habits, that’s when we need them the most.

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Organizational Truth # 42: When we want to blow off our good habits the most, that’s when we need them the most.  Routines and good habits help us restore order to our disorder; bring focus to our scattered brains; and prime the productivity pump when our motivation has run dry.

I was reminded of this Organizational Truth last night.  We had a truly great weekend; participated (ok, walked) in a local 5K for a really great non-profit organization; visited with guests and friends at our house and at a party; had a fabulous evening downtown with dinner, great friends and a concert of one of our favorite bands; and sang at Palm Sunday Mass.

Come Sunday night, I was very tired.  I’d earned a Sunday evening of laying around, and I could easily justify abandoning my usual Sunday night prep-for-the-week hour.  But I also deserve an organized, productive and less-stressed week.  So, even though I really wanted to blow off my routines, I knew they’d serve me well and that I needed them more than ever.  I took a breath, and got to work.  I:

  • Cleaned up from dinner and started the dishwasher.  Again.
  • Had the 10-year old pack his lunch for today, unpack his bag from camping (oh, add that to the list of fun), and get his backpack ready for school.
  • Started laundry. Again.
  • Tidied / swept the bedrooms, collecting random laundry items and stuff, and emptying trash as I went; and then the family spaces as well.
  • Wiped down the bathroom surfaces and floor, and emptied trash.
  • Checked my email accounts, and ruthlessly deleted anything that I didn’t need.
  • Checked my Evernote To-Do list, and deleted or moved to Monday everything from the weekend.
  • And THEN, I curled up with my new book. (Insert contented sigh…)

Truth be told, this isn’t the blog I had planned to write today.  But when I woke up this morning to a tidied house, the kids mostly ready for school and a clear vision of what I needed to do this week, I appreciated the great value in my Sunday night maintenance hour that prepared us for our week.

HOW, you say?  HOW to maintain your habits when your Get-Up- and-Go got up and went?

  1. Set a timer to keep you moving.  Use your smart phone or a kitchen timer, set it for your allotted time, race the clock to get your routines / habits done, then go do something fun when the timer sounds.  I use timers all the time, for myself and with my clients.
  2. Set a timer because then you know you get to stop soon.  This can help us get and stay motivated, too!
  3. Crank some tunes.  Seriously, it helps.  Not so much when I’m writing a blog or coaching phone clients, but staying on task while plowing through emails, assembling marketing materials or working with clients?  Oh yes, we need music!
  4. Enlist aid.  Get help from the humans around you, or phone a friend to chat as you fold laundry or wash dishes (hands free, of course, so you don’t drop the phone in the sink), to make the mundane routines more enjoyable.
  5. Decision making slows us down and trips us up. Determine what YOUR Getting-Started / Making-Progress / First-10-Minutes-When-I-Sit-Down-At-Work Routine looks like.  Write it down, pin it up, make it simple.

So establish routines and good habits, and then use them all the time, especially when you don’t want to!  You’ll thank yourself later!

Our Brains Get Tired. Help Yours With Better Schedule Management!

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My brain has been very busy lately (At a recent presentation, the speaker said we average 60,000 thoughts in a day!).

At brainhome, we’re adding two sport team schedules to an already busy schedule, plus potential summer activities.  Professionally, I have more clients now than I ever have before.  These are wonderful challenges to face, but they’re a lot to juggle!  So we’re reviewing and re-vamping our schedule management to accommodate.  I recommend periodically reviewing your scheduling practices, at work or at home, to make sure your own process is working as well as possible.

Why? Because

  • We’re all are busy people.
  • Our brains gets tired sometimes, thinking all those thoughts.
  • New tools come out all the time to help with scheduling, and to do tasks better with less hassle.
  • We need to make sure that the important (family, school and work) commitments are accounted for before we add anything else to the schedule.

If you could benefit from a scheduling review, too, here’s what to do:

  • Get buy in from all concerned parties (we’ll call them stakeholders). Why?  We (children and parents, co-workers, teammates, etc.,) all need to be part of the process.  Giving all the stakeholders a say in the schedule encourages ownership and responsibility, collaboration, creativity – getting lots of brains working on a challenge can be a great way to generate new and better ideas!
  • Consider how stakeholders prefer to communicate. In our family and in my business, some people prefer phone calls and others prefer to text.  Facebook is a chosen method for some people, and still others prefer email.  If a client or family member reaches out to me via phone, I try to respond in kind, at least until I can convince them to text me instead (my own personal preference!).
  • Have stakeholders commit to the new system and keeping their info up-to-date.
  • If you have more than one schedule to manage, use technology.  Why?
    • Technology is portable and pervasive.
    • We all can have access to the most current updates.
    • Technology allows accessibility from many devices.  For example, I can invite my teenagers to events via GoogleCalendar, and they can manage the invitations and their calendars from their IPods or tablets.
    • J.T., try Doodle.com for scheduling those meetings with fellow professionals
  • As with any new strategies, allow time to move along the learning curve.  For example, I am learning Google Calendar so my family can use it, but I fumble around sometimes.  Accept that you may have to run two systems – like paper and MS outlook, or MS Outlook and GoogleCalendar – at the same time for a while.
  • Sometimes the best way to establish a schedule is still face-to-face.  We just had a family meeting yesterday morning, to check in with upcoming travel, events and school projects.  We used GoogleCalendar and brought our devices to the table, but we still need to actually speak.

So look at your own scheduling strategies, and try one of these if it’s time for a change!

Spring Stirs My Soul! 9 Actions to Organize Your Spring This Week!

It has been a long and cold winter, friends, I know.  We’ve spent so much of the last few months inside, perhaps feeling closed in and cluttered.  And yet, I feel the stirrings of Spring in my Soul, regardless of what the thermometer says outside!

This week, I am energized to act!  To move forward, to lighten up, to re-fresh!  If you are feeling the same, here are 9 Things You Can Do This Week, to look back and wrap up winter while looking ahead and embracing this new season!

  1. Get outside.  Breathe deep and see the sun.
  2. Clean out your car.  Throw out the trash, drop off the bags of stuff destined for somewhere or someone else.  Then go to the car wash, and wash away the months of salt and dirt.
  3. Take down the outdoor Christmas decorations.  Come on, people.  It’s time.  If you need help, I can rent you a teenager.  But you can probably do it yourself.  Just do it.
  4. Put stuff AWAY! Christmas decorations, suitcases from travels, sports gear from last season, cardboard boxes from puchases – PUT THEM AWAY!!  If I had to choose an overall theme to most of my client hours last week, it would be “Just finish!”.  You’ll be so happy you did!
  5. Put away the really heavy sweaters and scarves – you know you’re tired of them!  I am, too.
  6. Open the windows.  Just for 30 minutes.   Exchange your old house air for some new fresh air!
  7. Spend the week Pantry shopping. Use up the food you have in the fridge, freezer and cabinets before you hit the grocery again.  Clear space and save money!
  8. Make your maintenance appointments now for April and May.  Need work done this Spring?  Get on the painter or plumber’s busy schedule now.  Carpet cleaners, yard guys, the air conditioner check?  I know there’s still snow on the ground, but you can schedule these now for the months to come.
  9. Clear the decks.  I just spent 9 minutes (yes, I set a timer) and cleaned out random things from my garage.  I now have two bags of donations to drop off, plus a bag of things for the E-Waste recycling drop off and a full recycling bin.  It looks and feels so much better in there now!

What are the breaths of fresh air stirring you to do this week?  Go Do It!

Powerful Questions to Build Decision Making Muscles

Recently, a coaching client asked for Powerful Questions to ask herself, to increase her motivation to get rid of paper clutter.  Below are questions I ask my clients (and myself!) as we work, to clarify the paper decision-making process.  In my experience, we all keep too much paper – I am rarely called to help someone because they got rid of too much!  Therefore, these questions will nudge you to purge your papers.

In addition, we often tackle our paper management in little pieces of time, and not big blocks. So we need to get in the organizing and purging zone regularly, and that takes practice!  These questions help you build your decision-making muscles, so you can hit that organizing / purging zone more quickly.  Here’s another tip – the questions can be tweaked and used to review every type of clutter!!

  • Now is not the time to ask Why?  As in “Why on earth did I keep this?”  Not why, then, but “What am I going to do right now?”
  • What can I do today to help future Me out? (Purge, unsubscribe, etc.)  What can I digitize, or subscribe to online?
  • If you keep paper for “Just In Case”, ask these:
    • Will anyone ever ask me for this piece of paper / information?  (If no, toss it.)
    • Does this information exist elsewhere?  (If yes, likely can toss it.)
    • Do I need to be the keeper of this information?  (No.  It’s called the internet.)
    • Is this information still correct, or pertinent?
    • If I purge this paper, what’s the worst that can happen?  Can I accept that “worst”?
    • Are all these papers worth the mess?
  • If you feel that “I can’t purge my papers because they will somehow change my life”, ask these:
    • Does this paper represent a reasonable expectation of myself or someone else?
    • Does my happiness really hinge on me having this piece of paper?  (No.)
    • Does this paper hold the secret to life? How likely is it that I hold the secrets of the universe in a dusty box of papers from 10 years ago?
    • Wouldn’t a better change come from clearing the clutter?
  • If you know you “Don’t want it, but don’t know what to do with it”, ask these:
    • Do I need to recycle it or shred it?
    • Does someone else need it more?  (Pass it on!)
  • If you keep paper for Nostalgia / Sentimentality / Guilt, ask these:
    • Who am I keeping this for?  (I ask this question of parents who keep every school paper their child ever brought home.  Because they are keeping those papers for themselves.  In 20 years, the kids will NOT want old boxes of school papers.)
    • Charitable donations / solicitations:
      • Do I make decisions regarding charitable giving based on mail or phone calls I receive?  (Personally?  No. So I can let those go.)
      • Did I ask for this information, or did someone else decide I need it?  Do I agree?  (Use this to review the unsolicited greeting cards / address labels / stickers that non-profit organizations send us so that we feel obliged to send them money.)
    • If I’m keeping these old papers in respect for a loved one who passed away, would they really want me struggling under all this clutter?
  • If these papers reminds me you that you need to do something, ask these:
    • What action does this paper represent?  (Go ahead and act, or at least add the task to your to-do list, then let the paper go.)
    • What nugget of information on this paper do I really need to keep?  (For example, a business card represents contact info for a person.  Log the info into your address book, either paper or digital, and then toss the card.)

So, next time you are struggling with piles of paper, keep some of these in mind. Make little index cards or post-its of the questions that resonate with you most, and stick them up where you can see them!  Let them be your mantra as you review your papers and let some go!

4 Things I Love and Despise About Working From Home

According to a productivity blog I follow, this week is the UK’s National Work From Home Week (ours is in October, I’ll have more to say then!)

The very things I love about working from home are also my biggest challenges.  If you work from home, like me, or are considering a change this year, understand there good and bad in the following points:

Flexibility in my schedule.

Working from home allows me to attend school events, day-time doctor appointments, re-arrange my schedule when my kids get sick, and other freedoms if needed.  Professionally, I can take clients or speaking engagements almost any day or evening.  I love doing 10 different things in a day.

But that means a choppy schedule, and perhaps completing work late at night or early in the morning in exchange for those day-time hours.  And, as flexible as I may be, my schedule is dictated by client and family needs, so there is a lot of juggling most days!  I secretly envy those who go to work at the same place for 9 hours, and can focus on just work there.

Don’t make excuses, as you make appointments.  Try this: “Thursday morning, no, I can’t do Thursday (or whatever).  Do you have another suggestion?” Period.  People don’t need to know why you are busy Thursday afternoon, whether with a client, appointment or pre-school program.

Working from Home is a misnomer.

I may not work in a traditional downtown office anymore, but I also don’t always work from home.  This week, I may work in other peoples’ homes and offices more than my own.  And many other “Work from Home” professionals do the same, completing their work in other people’s homes, offices, in the car, at Starbucks. The rough draft of this was written in my car, sitting in the garage, because that is where inspiration struck.

Working from Home needs a new name, one that reflects the myriad of professions and awesome work that we do in new and independent ways and places.  Since I use tech in my work, I often say I work Virtually, but I often have to explain that. Any suggestions? 

Some people will just never understand.

For 12 years, I’ve Worked From Home, and in that time, my choice of workplace has become commonplace.  But some people will just never understand what it means to work from home.  I’m not in my jammies, watching TV – like ever!, and I can’t chat for hours. I may be at home, but I am still accountable to my business.

Just as we practice our 30 second elevator speech, practice the explanation of how you spend your day. Don’t fumble.  Assert.  And then get over it and move on, because they may never understand.  And that’s ok. 

Quiet and Alone.  Noisy and Lively.  You Choose.

I love my quiet empty home.  I am easily distracted by other peoples’ noise and conversations, so working from home is ideal for me.  And yet, too much quiet can also kill my focus.  Pandora and my local library are lifesavers some days.

I love when my family comes home, but then I miss my focus.  I wake up early.  I’ve made phone calls from my closet, and may write blogs in my car.

Working From Home gets lonely. I miss co-workers, birthday lunches and water-cooler chats. If you work from home, make sure to keep regular routines and get out in the world at least a couple times a day.  Keep in contact with your co-workers, or join networking or professional groups. I guess that’s where that flexibility comes in, to make it work.  Know yourself, determine if Quiet and Alone work today, or Noisy and Lively.

We who work from Home are productive, flexible, awesome, and still figuring it out some days, just like everyone else. Celebrate the benefits of Working from Home the next time you face the challenges of the same!

National Clean Off Your Desk Day and The 80/20 Rule

Now The Real Work Begins!  Now it’s time to get down to business, and what better way than with National Clean off Your pile of mailDesk Day, the second Monday of January!  Think about it – Cleaning Off Your Desk makes room for motivation, clarity and focus.  What are your Goals for this year:  Clear the clutter; get a handle on your money and finances; read more; stress less; do / get a better job?  It all starts with cleaning your desk!

Let me (re)-introduce you to the Pareto Principle, a.k.a. the 80/20 Rule.  The Pareto Principle says 80% of what you need is in 20% of what you have. Say it a couple times out loud until it sinks in.  The 80/20 rule applied to Paper management says we need about 20% of our papers, and we can probably get rid of the rest.  As an example, a client returning from a trip mentioned collecting 2 inches of mail from her mail box, and keeping… 4 items.  That’s it.

Let’s clear that cluttered 80%, so we can work on the 20% we need to act on and keep.

Here’s What To Do:

Grab a recycling bin and shredder, a letter opener, and pen and paper.

Grab the first pile of papers on your desk, and get started. With the most recent pile of mail, open it all.  Yes, really, Standing at your work space (standing is better), open it all.

  • Recycle immediately the ads.
  • Start piles for Common Categories, like these:
    • Bills to pay
    • Action Items (notes to send, reminders of phone calls to make, forms to complete and submit, etc)
    • Items to Read Later: magazines, articles
    • Errands to Run (coupons, receipts for returns, etc)
    • Papers To File
    • Tax Related Papers 2 years ago
    • Receipts
  • Recycle all the catalogs, but first tear off the back page off and set them aside.
  • Open every envelope, and toss / recycle / shred anything you don’t need for action or filing.  Recycle outside envelopes and inside inserts for your bills, etc.,
  • Set the bills-to-pay in their own pile, and the action items (same pile for me)
  • Grab a magazine holder and start a reading pile for your magazines and articles you plan to read later

Make some magic, and STOP MORE MAIL FROM COMING!

  • Low Tech: Call the 800 #s on the back page of the catalogs, and request to be removed from their mailing list.
  • Go To http://www.catalogchoice.org/, create an account and “Unsubscribe” from catalogs
  • Using your catalogchoice.org account, Get the Mail Stop app for your smart phone and get rid of unwanted mail in your mail box, too
  • Contact and create an account with the Direct Marketing Association,  http://www.dmachoice.org/, to get off of mailing lists and stop unsolicited mail
  • Another option is the Paper Karma app for your smart phone, to unsubscribe from mailing lists.
  • Unsubscribe from Magazines you no longer need or want, and digitize your subscriptions, so they come via email or on your IPad or Tablet.
  • Make a regular appointment to get to your reading pile (mine is early on Saturday morning for an hour or 2)

I’ve blogged extensively on setting up the actual Paper Management structure, the files and things, so please check out those, too, as you proceed to the next step:  http://colleencpo.wordpress.com/?s=paper+management

Here are related blogs, too, from past National Clean Off Your Desk Days:

You Can DO This!  Now get to work!

Back to Normal, Only Better. Because I am Grateful.

For me, this week has been about getting Back to Normal.  Normal, only better.

Because I am grateful, and gratitude makes everything better.

Gratitude is central to getting organized.

Gratitude elevates even the everyday stuff to Better.

Gratitude helps us prioritize our time and efforts around the people and things that we value most.

Gratitude for what we have makes us want … less.  Less clutter, less drama, less stuff.   Gratitude helps us get organized when we can appreciate the stuff we have and purge the stuff we don’t need.

You see, while I love Advent, Christmas and New Years, I am also relieved as they draw to a close. We will keep our Nativity up until the Christmas Season’s official end on Sunday, January 11th with the Baptism of Our Lord, but we are getting back to Normal in most other areas.

And I am grateful. This Season was wonderful, and then I had the flu for a week.  I am just so thankful for our wonderful Christmas, and now to feel better, to have my family healthy and happy, to be able to do normal things again.

Expected house guests motivated me to thoroughly clean my house and get to the grocery, then the guests cancelled their plans.  So my house is clean and fully stocked, and I am grateful for our home and health, and ready for our guests when they reschedule!

I worked over the weekend, first with a wonderful coaching client and then with a new client as we reclaimed her second bedroom.  I am so grateful for what I do professionally!

As I put away our Christmas decorations, I spent a few extra minutes purging the old and broken ones, and fitting everything back in fewer storage bins.  I’ll be grateful next December that I cleaned up the decorations.

The boys went back to school, so we all returned to better routines.

I backed up, cleaned off and updated my IPhone and IPad.  And I am so grateful for technology, for keeping in touch and running a business from home.  And for making the flu a little more bearable, with downloadable books on my Kindle App, and movies via Amazon Prime.

So life is getting back to normal, only better.  Because I am grateful for normal.  We always should be grateful for all that we have, but sometimes we forget.

Today and this week and this month and this year, it’s your opportunity be grateful and to get back to normal-only-better. Be grateful for you what you have.  Let Gratitude help you focus on the important parts of your life.  Wrap around all the good things, and make room for more by letting go of clutter and want.

Bonus Cherry-On-Top Strategic Planning Wear-your-PJs Week

I love this week between Christmas and New Years.  The Bonus Week, Cherry-On-Top Week, Strategic Planning Week, Stay-in-your-PJs-all-week Week.  A lot of offices are closed this week, but whether you are off or not, I hope you still spend some concentrated focus time, looking back and around and ahead at the days to come.  Spend a little time planning this week, and reap the benefits all year long.

(Click here for Dave Crenshaw’s ideas on what he calls HeadStart Week).

Look back.  If you don’t already have a Done List for this current year,  make one now.  Skim your calendar, maybe review your email subject lines.  If you are a social media person, look through your own posts.  My family had a really good year.  Major life events, like Sacraments and Graduations and Awards.  Between the 5 of us, we traveled to over 20 states this year.  We’re healthy and happy and stronger than we were 12 months ago.  My business had a great year, the biggest one so far.  We appreciated our friends and family, made a few new ones and sadly lost a few this year, too.   I have touted my professional Done List in a blog last February, but it’s nice to have a personal Done List, too.

Look Around.  Appreciate what you have and where you are right now.

Now Look Ahead.  It is easier to see where you are going once you know where you have been.  Consider all the different facets of you – personally, professionally, spiritually, physically, emotionally.  I am on the fence about New Years Resolutions, per se, but I do know that now that the holiday rush has slowed, there are some areas of my life I would like to work on – like health and nutrition, and professional development – two areas that get neglected in December!

So what will you do with your extra special extra week?  What will you do this week, that you can look back at 12 months from now?  Get to it!

The Gift Of “Completion”

The Gift Of “Completion”.  Done.  Good enough.  Followed-through. Tied up the loose ends.

christmas-present-lg

Give yourself and others the gift of “Completion” this week.  The gift of “Done”.

We all know what we are supposed to do, but we don’t always do it.  Go ahead and do it this week.

A client and her spouse challenged each other to complete the homework I assigned a month ago, before taking on more projects.  Completion.  Done.

“Completed” is powerful.  “Done” feels great.

I worked in a client’s home recently, and we discussed “Done” in terms of the items in her dining room awaiting delivery to other destinations (like donated books and a table destined for a co-worker’s art room).  She planned to have her teenagers drop off the items that day, to complete those final steps to clearing out their home space.

I ordered and picked up 20 more photo Christmas cards yesterday, went home, assembled them and sent them out.  Done. I balanced my business check book, updated my bookkeeping and paid my bills today instead of next week, to financially finish (almost) 2014.  I encouraged (nagged) my sons to finish wrapping their gifts so we could be done with the gift wrap.  I dropped off bags of donations, just to get them out of my house.  I went to my annual physical today. Done, done, done.   Whew.

Some days it seems that the last few steps of a project are the hardest to get motivated to complete (and therefore never seem to get done).  But please, push through those last steps, and then revel in Completion and Done.

“Completion” helps us breathe deeply, un-clutter our brain, feel lighter, look up and around, and think about something new for a change.

2014 is quickly wrapping up, and 2015 is almost here!  In what areas can you tie up the loose ends this week and next? Work? Personal?  Correspondence?  Small home projects?  What requires Follow-through?   Take time to wrap up those last steps and complete your projects!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!