Category: Taking Care of Business

Do Future-You a Favor, and Leave a Recipe!

I was at a professional event, and an IT guy mentioned leaving himself a recipe.  After a moment, I realized he was not referring to food, but to a note-to-self, a recipe, a map for his future self to follow to complete a recurring task.  I chuckled at the reference, but I use and absolutely recommend the practice of leaving recipes!

Recipes are great tools for those often-but-not-too-often tasks, the ones that are regularly scheduled but with large gaps of time between, like quarterly or semi-annually.  We do these tasks often enough to remember part of the process, but not often enough to make them a habit.

Let me give you a couple of examples, of the awkwardly scheduled tasks and the Recipe Solution:

  • Once a month, I post my upcoming presentations to Facebook and also to the NAPO-Chicago website.  I wish I could say that I quickly and confidently complete these tasks from habit or memory, but I can’t say that.  Every month, I have a moment of panic, trying to remember if I’m supposed to post to my personal FB page first, and then share to my Professional page?  Or is it the other way around….. and when I send the info to NAPO, did the contact person say PDF not Word?  Hmmm… Or Word not PDF….  Then the panic passes and I look at my note on my IPhone that tells me Professional then personal, and Word not PDF.   Whew.  Once I check my notes, my recipe, the process takes all of 15 minutes.  Done. 
  • I helped with an annual event last week for our school district.  Wisely, we recapped just hours after the event, writing up notes of successes and challenges, while all the details were still fresh in our minds.  We’ll add those wrap-up notes to all the other notes for the event.  Next May or June when we start working on next year’s event, the process will go that much more smoothly. 
  • Approximately 5 times a year, I have the opportunity to teach a class at Moraine Valley Community College.  I love teaching at MVCC, I always meet the nicest people.   And my contact person is very kind.  But she has to be getting tired of me, since for the first 4 classes, I missed some detail of the grading process and held up my students’ grades.  Each time, I have added details to my Recipe, like my log-in info and the correct screen to enter attendance, etc.  I really hope I’ve got it right this time, I’ll find out when I teach my next class in September!
  • Even my father-in-law’s habit of writing the oil filter size and oil weight for each car he has owned on the cabinet door in the garage is an example of a Recipe.  When it comes time to change his oil, he is reminded of what he needs.

Save yourself the scrambling, the head scratching, the moment of panic. Do Future You a favor, take some notes for those awkwardly spaced recurring tasks and leave yourself a Recipe!  Future You will thank today’s You!

5 Ways to Find Productivity in Little Bits of Time

Since Chicago is a transportation hub, we have train and truck traffic in my neighborhood, and we hourglassget stuck by trains.  Drivers get justifiably aggravated with train traffic.  My Village of Evergreen Park listed the customer service number for a troublesome train line on their lighted marquee… right next to an intersection often blocked by those trains.  Genius!

I confess, I enjoy getting stopped by a train, so long as it’s a brief stop.  It is a reasonable excuse for being a few minutes late – texting “Train.  Sorry.  Be there soon”, folks will understand.  And it’s a mini-break in the midst of a busy day.  I grab a productive few minutes to check email, make a call, send a text, clean out my bag or car, or just play a game of Sudoku on my Iphone. As an added bonus, I find having something to do while I wait distracts me from getting aggravated, too.

We all benefit from improved time management and productivity.  Productivity means getting things done, managing our tasks and time well, taking good care of our responsibilities and relationships.  It means taking care of business effectively, so we can move on to something else.  I prefer to work in large, uninterrupted blocks of time, but rarely get that luxury.  Subsequently, I work hard to make the most of little bits of time, stuck by a train or between appointments, tasks, obligations and fun, especially in the summer!

Ideas for Finding Productivity in Little Pieces:

  1. Recognize that large tasks are comprised of related small tasks.  For example, I have “Client Care” on my to-do list every Tuesday.  “Client care” consists of emailing, texting or calling 5-10 clients, to arrange or confirm appointments, or just check in, and can occur in little pieces around other appointments and activities.  Any 2 or 3 minute pause can be used for “Client Care”.
  2. Keep a detailed to-do list.  “Run Errands” is not detailed enough.  “1. Drop off donations; 2. Pick up order at doctor’s office; 3. Make banking deposit; and 4. Drop off dry cleaning” is detailed.  And with today’s personal to-do list in hand, you can accomplish these tasks around other blocks of time on your schedule.  An errand or two on the way to work, at lunch and on the way home.  Details are key.
  3. Set your brain on a task or a question, and be open to the answer.  At the top of my to-do list I write “Unique gift idea for wedding?”  Or “Creative blog topic for next Tuesday?”  I’m always amazed at the people or ideas that come to me when I do this, providing inspiration!  Perhaps song lyrics, a client question, an on-line article, even a billboard.  I could waste a lot of time and mental energy forcing ideas or I can just let them come to me in small pieces.
  4. Boost productivity and assign “time allotments” to your tasks.  Looking at today’s tasks, I assign 5-10-15-30 and 60 minute labels to them.  Then throughout my day, when I have a few minutes, I can reach for the 5 or 10 minute tasks (make appointment, confirm client, make grocery list) and complete them in those little bits of time.
  5. Create a habit of checking and re-checking your efforts during your day. Many times a day, I stop and ask myself if I am working on what I need to be working on.  Or, am I aimlessly following links on Facebook?  I am not suggesting that you can’t just relax for a few minutes – relaxing is necessary for productivity, too!  But I am suggesting that we relax for a few minutes, and then return to the task at hand.

Next time you find yourself stuck by a train, in line at Starbuck’s, or waiting for your kids to get out of practice, seize the moment.  Breathe deeply and gently stretch your neck from side to side.  Then think through today’s tasks and spend a productive few minutes.  These little bits of productive time really add up by the end of the day!

Dedicated to JS, thanks for editing with me!

Swap 60 Minutes With Your Mail for 167 Worry-Free Hours! 

Does this sound familiar? mailbox-clip-art_436249

Piles of new / old / opened / mystery mail are scattered on flat surfaces all over your home.  Somewhere there’s a utility bill that might be due, and that reimbursement check from work is missing.  You are always vaguely worried about business falling through the cracks.

You’re not alone.  I worked with a client just last week with a similar challenge, and here’s how we cleaned up her surfaces, took care of this week’s mail and took care of business, in no time at all. Try it for yourself!

First, we collected the mail from the hall table, kitchen counter, dresser, mail box and desk top.  We wiped off a counter top, and made some space to get to work.

As we worked, I shared these truths with my client:

  1. The Pareto Principle (a.k.a. The 80/20 Rule)
    1. 80% of what we use in 20% of what we have.
    2. In business, the 80/20 rule says that 80% of our business comes from 20% of our clients.
    3. In a closet, the 80/20 rule says that if we own 10 pairs of pants, we wear the same 2 or 3 all the time.  In the kitchen, if we have 10 appliances, we use the same 2 or 3 every day.
    4. And if we get 10 pieces of mail today, we actually need to keep and act on 2 or 3.
  2. You will receive mail you don’t need and didn’t ask for.  Just because someone sent you something doesn’t mean you need it.
  3. Your daily mail is unlikely to contain anything truly urgent.
  4. Once you’re organized, maintenance takes no time at all.
  5. Sometimes a conscious effort once a week to work on mail all the way to completion is better than halfhearted dealings every day.

With these truths in mind, we tackled this week’s mail (and you can, too!):

  1. We pulled out ads and old newspapers, and recycled them.
  2. We pulled out magazines, confirmed my client actually wanted to read them, and created a reading pile.
  3. Next we opened up every envelope.  Why?
    1. Just like the book and cover analogy, you can’t judge your mail by the envelope.  For example, health insurance reimbursement checks look just like Explanation of Benefit envelopes.  In addition, credit card solicitations don’t always look personalized on the outside envelope, but can contain personal information inside and therefore require shredding.
    2. We can recycle parts of every mail item. For example, my client’s ComEd envelope contained a bill page, a return envelope, a “customer privacy info” sheet and an advertisement.  We kept only the bill page, as she pays her bill on-line and didn’t need the return envelope,
  4. Next, we put the “bills to pay” and the follow-up items in a small pile, for my client to complete when our session was over.  Since we had purged 80% of the papers, there were only 3 or 4 action items, which will take maybe 15 minutes to complete.
  5. We took out the recycling, shred a few papers containing personal info and filed the rest (just a few).
  6. Total elapsed time – 15 minutes. Done and Done.

For many of us, tackling the mail once a week is enough.  And by “tackling”, I mean taking our daily mail all the way from the mailbox to complete and filed.  This approach requires up to an our once a week, uninterrupted, but surely an hour of hard work and focus is worth the freedom from paper management tasks for the other 167 hours!  Give it a try!

I’ll Never Be A Secret Agent (And I’m OK With That)

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secret agentI’ll Never Be A Secret Agent (And I’m OK With That).  Or, this article could also be titled “How being organized and predictable makes me a better mom, driver, dry cleaner customer and person.”

I have been thinking a lot about time management lately, to prepare for 2 productivity presentations.

My sons and I like to watch “NCIS LA” together, it’s one of our favorite shows.  The characters, the agents, often discuss how they vary their schedule every day – rarely stopping at the same coffee shop or taking the same route to work, all in the interest of their personal and professional safety.  For them, having a predictable routine could encourage an attack, so they shake it up every day.

I, on the other hand, am apparently predictable.  Or so says my son.  Last week on his birthday, he and some fellow band students stayed late to help with an evening event.  I let his band director know that I would bring cupcakes for the kids who stayed late, to help my son celebrate.  It’s a good thing I did, too, because when I mentioned it to my son, he said “I sort of expected it, Mom, you did it last year for the same reason, I figured you would do it this year, too.  You’re kind of predictable like that.”

Predictable sounds rather dull, but finding out that predictable means I consistently do nice things for my son and he knows he can count on me makes me think predictable is pretty great.

 

I stopped by the dry cleaners this morning, to drop off my husband’s work clothes.

The nice lady I see every week at the Cleaners:  “Good morning.  You’re early today!”

Me:  “Yes, lots of people to see and things to do”.

Nice lady:  “And you’re dressed for working, you must have people to help.”

Me: “Yes!  No jeans or skirts today!”  Then….

Nice lady: “6 pants and 5 shirts this week? Did your husband buy some new pants?”

Me:  “Why yes, yes he did.”   Then, at the end….

Nice Lady: “See you next Monday!”

This is typical.  And as I think about it, being consistent and predictable in my errand running has made it really easy for my Cleaners to take good care of me (and she really is a very nice lady!!).  Interesting.

My oldest son is learning to drive.  Lately, many conversations center on the logistics of driving, but also the spirit of driving.  For example, on the expressway yesterday, we talked about how important it is for all the drivers on the road to follow the rules.  The three lanes of expressway traffic flow much better when slow cars stick to the right lanes, and when the left lane is used solely for passing.  Other drivers depend on us to follow rules and be predictable in our actions, so they can make their decisions, too.

So, looking at my three examples, and taking a metaphorical leap:

  1. Being predictably organized make it easy for my kids and family members to count on me;
  2. Being predictably consistent improves my relationship with others, to our mutual benefit; and
  3. Acting predictably makes for a safer and more positive flow in life.  Unless you are a secret agent.
  4. (I suppose I could be predictably bad, too, if I never showed up for stuff or did things consistently wrong, but that’s not today’s topic.)

Now, I know some instances in life require spontaneity and creativity, and I can step up with both of those, too, I am not advocating only predictable and organized behavior.  I am recommending, however, that you spend a little time today and this week considering how creating and maintaining routines and predictability could improve your performance or relationships.  Meeting the same friend or co-worker for a weekly chat, consistently getting your work submitted ahead of time, creating routines for making everyone’s day less stressful and more enjoyable.  Sounds pretty good to me!  So, I’m ok with never being a secret agent. I have other things to do.

Spring Cleaning For Your Financial House!

It is Spring!  This time of year, we all want to make changes and put things in order for this new season.  In addition, the tax deadline is next week, so let me recommend putting your Financial House in Order, too.    Here are 6 steps to get you started:

 

Shred your discarded personal papers.  Why Shred?  For safety sake.  You want to make it as difficult as possible for someone to commit a crime like identity theft against you.

If you don’t have a shredder, get one.  If (and when) you have a shredder, create the daily or weekly habit of shredding any un-needed paper with personal information on it.  If you tackle this job in little pieces regularly, you won’t amass big piles of papers to shred.  (Note – this is a great job for a helpful child!)

If you already have big piles of papers needing shred, keep an eye out in your community for free Shred Events.  If you just want to catch up and get it all shred at once, you have a couple of options.  The three big office supply stores, Office Max, Office Depot and Staples, all offer shredding services on a per pound basis.  In addition, you could contact ProShred or Shark Shredding , and make an make an appointment to shred all your papers at once.

 

Go on-line and request your Credit Report.  Why get your credit report?  Your credit report is a snap-shot of your financial identity.  Reviewing your credit report may uncover unresolved issues that are harming your credit score, or long-neglected credit cards or accounts that are still active.  Take time to review your report, and follow-up with any issues you notice.  And make a note in your calendar to do it again next year, too.

There are three reporting agencies, Equifax (www.equifax.com), Experian (www.experian.com) and Transunion (www.transunion.com).  I don’t know about other states, but I know that as an Illinois resident, I am entitled to a free credit report from each agency every year.

 

Buy a fireproof Safe.  If you don’t have a safe, invest in one.  Make sure it is fireproof and portable, and that you, your spouse, and one other person that doesn’t live in your house knows where the key is kept.  Store your irreplaceable vital records in there, like birth / sacramental / marriage and death certificates, insurance policies, passwords, Wills, car titles, etc.

 

If temptation to spend is great, physically “Freeze” your credit cards.   I heard this tip years ago, about a woman struggling with credit card debt actually freezing her credit cards in a large block of ice.  The idea was to make it complicated to use credit, so she would have a chance to consider and re-consider any purchase made with credit.  I don’t know if you want to really freeze your credit cards, but you could remove all but one from your wallet and put the rest away somewhere safe, like in the safe mentioned above or, well, a well-disguised block of ice.

 

Make sure your Beneficiary allocations are up-to-date.  Check your retirement accounts, insurance policies, etc., and make sure that the stated beneficiaries are who you want them to be.  Too often we forget this step, and our loved ones could lose out.

 

Add a “2014 Income Tax information” file to the front of your top file drawer, and make a habit of tossing charitable donation receipts and other pertinent tax info in there.  It will make tax time go more smoothly next year.

 

Add these steps to your Spring Cleaning plan this week, and get your Financial House in order, too.

Paper Management Suggestions for the Lady at the Gas Station.

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A woman noticed the magnets on my van, and asked me about my business.

She said “I always say, I need someone to help me with my files.  I always think that it’s just me, and there is something wrong with me”.

No, there is nothing wrong with you, and you are not alone in struggling with your papers. Here’s why:

Image

  • Most of us keep too many papers, and / or keep papers for too long.
  • Most of us name our files the wrong thing, if we even have files.
  • Some of us have barriers to filing, either real or imagined.
  • Most of us don’t maintain our papers often enough.

We keep too many papers, and we keep them for too long:

We keep receipts / business cards / post-it notes / grocery lists far longer than they are useful.

We keep newspapers / children’s daily school work / magazines long after they’ve been read.

We keep papers out of habit, because they started out as “important”, but now they are just old news.

We want to hold on to our papers for “just-in-case”.  HOWEVER, You can purge your papers if:

  • The information exists somewhere else (medical records or on-line banking information);
  • The information is not pertinent to you (flyers for activities that don’t interest you or past events)
  • Purging the paper will have minimal consequences (who reads the privacy notices from credit card companies?)
  • You can’t imagine when or why anyone would ask for that information (utility bills or grocery bills from more than a few months ago, account information from long closed accounts, etc).

We name our files the wrong things, if we even name them at all:

Never name a file Miscellaneous.  Ever.  Either a paper is necessary enough to warrant a file named for it, or it isn’t important and it needs to go.  If you have a “Misc.” file, perhaps it could be more aptly named….:

  • marketing ideas
  • Action Papers
  • general credit / banking information
  • Work To Do
  • You choose…. But make it meaningful.  Name your files, name your papers and get to work.

We have barriers to filing, either real or imagined.  They may include:

  1. Non-existent filing systems (your important papers don’t have a final “Away” in your home or office).
  2. Antiquated filing system (what worked 20 years ago doesn’t anymore).
  3. Physically inconvenient filing: perhaps the file cabinets are under other things, or in a remote corner of your home or office, so papers never get put away, reviewed or purged.
  4. Too-Full file drawers – you have files from 2007, but no room to file the papers from last week.

The solutions are simple: purge the clutter, move the file cabinets, purge or shred the unneeded content.

Most of us don’t maintain our papers often enough.

I know that sounds scary.  As though I am telling you that you have to find more time to work on your papers – ahhhhh!!

But remember, I just told you how to keep a lot less.  Really, we just need to perform maintenance more often but for less time total.  Five to 10 minutes a day to:

  •          Open today’s mail;
  •          Shred today’s shredding (a few pages);
  •          Toss the recycling (a few pages);
  •          Pay this week’s bills (once a week);
  •          Enter a few items into your calendar; and
  •          File the few papers that you actually need to keep.

So, to the lady at the gas station and to you, try one of these ideas this week, and you are not alone in your struggles with paper management!

Keep Your Cool Technology From Getting Cluttered!

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My family really loves technology. I have a few tech items that I am extremely attached to – my IPhone 5, my IPad and my laptop. But those are just MY gadgets.  Everyone else has gadgets, too. We even loaned the 9 year-old an old IPhone 3 to use as an IPod touch (music, games and apps, no internet or phone usage) on a recent long-distance car ride.

So between 5 people, we have 4 phones, 3 IPod touches, 3 Nintendo 3DS handheld games, a couple of Kindles and digital cameras, and my IPad. Plus 3 laptops and a desk top computer, and an xBox 360 and Wii.

We embrace our technology, but the accompanying clutter can be maddening! Here are some ways we clear our tech clutter, try a few for yourself this week!

Tame the snake pit— I mean— chargers and cords.

1.  Dedicate 1 charging station. Image

  • We use a surge protector strip on the kitchen desk. Maybe you need more than one, for different family members, but limit yourself to one or two stations, to help keep track of necessary items and share resources. (Do this when you travel, too, so things don’t get left behind!)
  • Charge where you work. I leave my IPhone charger cord plugged into my laptop, and charge my phone while I work. My husband keeps an extra phone charger at the office.
  • I received a MOS organizer, http://mosorganizer.com/, to review and test in my office setting. A great gadget, the MOS Organizers is a magnetic object that holds the end of your charging cord between charges. The attractive 3.5” whiImagete triangle holds the charger cord end and keeps it from dropping off your desk/ charging area when not in use.
  • My hubby also received a very cool “Powerbot” wireless charger for his phone. He only needs to place his phone on the disc, and it charges! No more cords! (this only works for select tech items, though).

2. Match up your chargers with your current tech gadgets (phones, cameras, IPod, etc.).

3. Label the chargers / cords:

  • Tag the chargers with labels listing tech item type (camera, GPS, cell phone, etc.), date and owner’s initials. If you don’t have a labeleImager, you can also fold a blank mailing label around the charger cord, and jot the initials on that.
  • Bundle the cords. Most are longer than necessary. We use cord coils (picked them up at Office Max), to rein in the chaos.
  • ImageOr try bundling the cords with different colored Velcro straps (each person gets their own color), or even patterned craft tapes.
  • I have to share a suggestion to hang charger cords in the inside of a cabinet door with command hooks when not in use (check out all 34 of these awesome ideas, http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/how-to-de-clutter-your-entire-life
  • Or these handy charging ideas, http://www.workingmother.com/content/desk-control .

4.   Any chargers or cords not matched up with a tech items? Put them in a freezer bag, with today’s date and an expiration / recycle date on it, about 6 months from now.

5.  When in doubt…   Occasionally, I will put all the cords away in the drawer under the charging strip. I figure, everyone knows which cord is theirs, and will take out what they need. And things will look tidy for a while!

Keep your Apps and Updates up to date. At least once a week for my phone, I download all the app and system updates available. I update my IPad occasionally, too, but not as often as my phone.

Set limits.  No phones at the dinner table, or after 10 pm. The wi-fi to the kids’ IPods turns off at 10 pm, and all tech items are left in the kitchen overnight. No one needs to send or receive texts after 10 pm. When the boys were younger, we set TV limits, too, for example, the TV in the basement was set to only age appropriate programming.

And unplug sometimes. Seriously. I love my technology, but I like to just talk to people, too. And nap. And read, like an actual book. And go hiking. And tickle my son.

So, spend just a little time this week, and clear some tech clutter!

Command Center Part 2: Your Paper & Scheduling Challenges (& Solutions)!

A few weeks ago, I asked my FB friends to tell me their most and least favorite things about their Command Centers.  And because I know absolutely awesome people, I received great input and ideas!

The biggest challenges for my contributors were Paper Management and Scheduling.  There was a third area, Technology, but I will address that in a separate blog article!

So, Command Center Paper Management and Scheduling ideas – here we go!!!!

Paper:

  • Did you know?  There are three main types of paper: Active, Passive and Archival.  And each requires slightly different handling.
  • Active (requires an action):
    • If a paper needs returned to school, sign it immediately, note any necessary info on your calendar of choice, attach a check or cash if necessary, then send it back to school.  Right away!
    • Tuck Bills-to-Pay in their own folder, so everything’s together when the weekly bill-paying time comes.
    • If the action required is to jot down a date or details in your planner, make time to do this everyday.  Maintaining our active papers daily keeps them from building up.
  • Passive (keep for a predetermined amount of time, then purge):
    • If you keep schedules or notices for upcoming events on hand, keep them all on one single clip, with the soonest event on top.  Keeping too many notices or reminders causes visual clutter, and we stop really seeing what’s in front of us.
    • Kid papers – admire-then-purge daily papers, if possible.  If papers need to be kept for a few weeks, tuck them in hanging folders per person, and purge monthly.
    • Display kid art on the fridge, and purge old items as new ones come along.
    • Purge passive papers ruthlessly!  Once a week is preferred, once a month is a Must.
  • Archival (papers we expect to make a permanent record)
    • Keep a binder per person for long term papers, or papers you want to keep.  Each of my sons has a binder for their academic records, award certificates, team photos, etc., organized by academic year.
  • With each piece of paper in hand, ask yourself a few questions:
    • What is the next action to take on this paper?  (Act, File, toss)
    • If I choose to keep this paper, why am I choosing to keep this paper?  For example:
      • Academic records?  someone may ask for it some day.
      • Today’s completed and graded spelling test?  No one needs it anymore.  And no, your child will not want to look at it again in 20 years.

Scheduling:

Many of you have scheduling challenges, and I absolutely understand.  My sons, while awesome!!, are often a little light on calendar and event details.

Good scheduling requires regular effort, strategic planning, cooperation from all participants, and communication!  Communication is key.

We have planning sessions with both parents and two teenagers, typically on Sunday night after dinner. The 9 year old gets the highlights and then is dismissed.  I keep everyone’s calendar in MS Outlook, so our planning sessions consist of making sure everyone has the same information in front of them.  We had one a few weeks ago, we probably need to have another one this week since we just added another sports team and schedule.  My husband and the teenagers use Google Calendars, so they can synchronize their own pertinent info, and invite me via email to important events.  I have not yet made the switch.

A few of you asked about scheduling “consequences / rewards”, but I don’t give parenting advice!  However, we have a few guidelines:

  • If you want to add an event to the calendar, tell me in writing / text/ email so I won’t forget it
  • You are one person in a 5 person household.  Keep that in mind when making time and event requests.
  • If you didn’t inform me of an event with adequate warning, it’s possible you may not be able to attend.  You know I will always try, but the answer may be “no”.
  • At any time, the answer may be “No”. And school, family time and church can trump anything else.

If your challenges are also paper and scheduling, try one of these solutions today!

Strategic Planning: My March Marching Orders

I’m working on my Strategic Plan this week, and you should, too.

My 2014 so far:

January:  snow; back-to-school and holiday wrap up; Get Organized Month, presentations and new clients; busy family life.

February: snow; my son’s Confirmation and the associated preparations, sacramental and otherwise; my Dad’s illness and the travel and planning associated (he’s better now); and busy family life.

These are all good things.  I’ve been focusing on details and getting things done, and that’s great.  But now I need to check my Big Picture, and make sure I’m looking at the right details and getting the right things done, plus plot my personal and professional path for the next couple of months.   Onward March!!

What and where:  Strategic planning is a useful activity to help us see the Big Picture, and determine:

  • What we’re doing;
  • where we are;
  • where we are actually going;
  • where we are should be heading;
  • where other people around us are going, and
  • what we have at our disposal to get us where we want to go, either personally or professionally.

There are often times when we just need to move forward, but only after we know where “forward” is, since we wouldn’t want to charge off a metaphorical or actual cliff…

When: 

I am a planner.  So trust me when I say, “Don’t Spend Too Much Time Planning”.  We can over-analyze and over-plan, leading to Analysis Paralysis and getting “stuck”.

Never Let Planning Take the Place of Action.

Regularly review your Plan and make sure you are still on the right path, doing the right things, moving towards the right goal.  I discussed this topic with my husband recently, and he mentioned that his department’s implementing weekly meetings, for everyone to check in on work flow plus elements of their strategic plan.

I can’t tell you the right percentage of time to spend time in planning.  It is necessary, but so is doing your actual work!  So make time for both!

Why and How:

  1. Strategic Planning takes the view from 30,000 feet.  Focusing solely on details for long periods of time stresses me out.  The closer we look at something, often the less we see.  So backing up, and looking at an overview gives us perspective and a break.  For example, looking ahead perhaps I see a conference coming up in April – I can note that, and start preliminary planning or book my travel plans, but I certainly don’t need to start packing.
  2. It always feels better to have a plan.  Most of us don’t like feeling out of control.  I understand the benefits of planning for events and the unexpected.  And just because sometimes things don’t go as planned, they often do.  And the act of planning is invaluable.  “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable”.  Dwight D. Eisenhower
  3. Strategic Planning elevates the mundane, and gives purpose to our actions.  When we look at the Big Picture, we seen that our every-day work is part of something bigger and grander.  Hope is a huge motivator!
  4. Strategic Planning helps us recognize and allocate resources.  My biggest resource challenge right now is my own time.  I have ideas and energy to spare, but a busy schedule to manage.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.  But it means I have to allocate my most valuable resource very carefully.  Which leads me to ….
  5. Priorities: I have 7 index cards sitting here on my desk, with one word written on each, representing my main priorities.  Knowing that time is my most valuable resource, any new requests on my time have to fit in of those priorities, or the answer is “No, thanks”.
  6. Master To-Do List:  My master To-Do List is not the same as my Strategic Plan.  The Plan has broad categories and steps, and the To-Do List a very detailed list of tasks.  I couldn’t have one without the other.  My Strategic Plan dictates my tasks, and having my Master To-Do List ensures that work gets done, because it collects tasks and ideas for 4 or 6 months down the road, so the Plan and the List rely on each other.

This is a very broad topic, and I’ve given you a lot to think about today.  I have taken entire college courses on similar subjects, so I know Strategic Planning can feel a little overwhelming.  But invest some time this week on your Strategic Plan.  Gain perspective, look ahead, cultivate some hope, elevate your “everyday”.  Time well spent, I promise!

Our Home Command Center, more Command and more Center!

This week I want to share a small project that made a big impact in my kitchen – not too overwhelming and sooooo useful!

First, if you’d like, I wrote this a while ago, for more specifics:

ImageYour Command Center: Knowledge is Power

Your command center is the information hub of your home.  Perhaps it’s a desk, maybe just a kitchen counter or table near the door.  But everyone and every home needs one.

Calendars and schedules, contact lists and team rosters, incoming mail and bills to pay, school supplies and reference materials.  Yep, all of this can be in a command center.

I reworked ours last week.  It took less than an hour, and this is the after picture.  I wanted to post it first, since it is a nice visual, and it makes me happy.

The command center surface is not large (by design), but it is in the kitchen, the very center of our home. That keeps it front and center, accessible to everyone – but that also means that it gets cluttered, and when it does, I have to look at it all the time.  And that occasionally drives me crazy.  So here are the before and after pictures, and my comments:

  • Always start with a plan.  I know what I do and don’t like about our current arrangement, plus what I wanted the updated space to look like.
  • I cleared everything off, and wiped down the space.
  • I moved some books out that belonged on other bookshelves, and I Imageeven (gulp) got rid of the desk encyclopedia.  I kept the dictionary, thesaurus and bible, because I encourage my boys to actually look stuff up instead of asking Google.  However, the desk encyclopedia was mine.  From high school.  And that was a loooong time ago.  So it went away.
  • Before, I had trays available on the kitchen desk for each child.  Not surprisingly, while school papers and assignments moved in and out, other stuff just piled up.  So the sloppy side-by-side trays were replaced by a vertical tray.  Much better.
  • I powered through the school supplies, and ruthlessly purged what the boys don’t or won’t use.  Buh-bye.
  • The charging cords and surge protector still drive me crazy, but I’ve been keeping the cords clipped up when not in use, or in the desk drawer underneath.  And I received a very cool produImagect to review for an upcoming blog that may help with this, so more later…
  • I went with “pretty”.  I don’t always care what my organizing tools look like, but since this area is seen by anyone walking through my house, I invested in matching and attractive items.  Nice, clean lines.  Ahhhhh…. (that is a contented sigh, by the way)
  • A vitally important but often neglected part of a Command Center is the day-to-day attention and maintenance.  I made sure that only current information was present in the Command Center.
  • I recently read a suggestion, to have a “waiting” folder, with items waiting for follow up.  Like rebates, reimbursements, copies of applications, etc.  So I added one to our existing files.
  • So, in under an hour, I improved the look of the most lived-in room in the house, pared down and cleaned up our information, and cleared some clutter. Look around – Do you have a Command Center?  Is it time for an update?!  Give it a try! Image