Category: Small Business Information

Wellness Check-In, Because That Is The Point.

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Let me say – I am not a health care professional, and I don’t even play one on TV. I’m just sharing information, in the hope of encouraging others. In the interest of living our best organized life, of finding Peace of Mind, let’s manage our wellness.

And you should know – to be fully authentic – I had a major cold that turned into an upper respiratory infection when I first started working on this article about My Wellness Check-In, One Year Later. Ironic? Yes, I know.

But here we are. And actually I had a cold last February, too, so perhaps that’s fitting!

Last January, I shared this article because sometimes we need to talk about the things that we don’t always talk about.

Who’s On The Team? (Wellness Edition)

This week, I wanted to do a health and wellness check in a follow-up one year out from my experiences this Month last year. Let’s take another walk back in time:

In November of 2023, I went to a dermatologist and had them look at a spot that I had considered troublesome for a while but didn’t want to get checked. In transparency, it worried me for about 6 months, but my son and daughter-in-law got married in September of 2023, and I was vain, concerned that the doctor would want to do surgery on my nose so I didn’t get it checked out before the wedding. Yes, I delayed, out of vanity. Not great logic, I know, but I called the Monday after the wedding to make an appointment, and a month later, had a biopsy. The spot was determined to be basal cell carcinoma, which, it turns out, since I’ve learned a lot about it since then, is completely treatable and very common, especially with folks like me with my pale Irish skin.

Also, in transparency, I was frustrated! I was frustrated that this happened because Hey! I have worn daily sunscreen for over 20 years! I know it has been over 20 years because I started wearing in when I had a darkening of skin that comes with pregnancy called melasma with my second pregnancy. Since my middle son is 24, I’ve been wearing sunscreen daily for 24 years now! No fair, right?!

I learned that my skin damage was more likely from when I was, let’s say, 10, when we didn’t know about sunscreen and didn’t worry about skin cancer. And I can be as frustrated as I want to be, but that doesn’t change the current situation.

First lesson? Yes, probably.

So, it’s more likely that the damage was done when I was 10. The fact that I’ve been wearing sunscreen for the last 24 years in an investment in future me. I will continue to wear it daily so that 20 more years down the road, I won’t have more damage to undo.

Second lesson? Yes.

Yes, I had the surgery in February. It was far more invasive than I expected, really, than anybody expected. To not be dramatic, “more invasive” means a 12 hour day instead of 6 hour day. Still no crisis. Yes, for a few days after, I looked like I lost a fight. I did not expect two black eyes and all the swelling. But I healed well and appropriately, the way I was supposed to. This update is informational, no drama or cliffhanger here.

And, most of us will – heal well and appropriately, that is. We will go to the doctor without incident, follow-up with specialists without incident, heal as expected. I spoke with a friend today who had hip replacement surgery 6 weeks ago. I remember we talked about it the week before his surgery, and I reminded him then that too often we only hear the crazy stories of things that happen, and those crazy things are very unlikely for most of us. He’s doing well 6 weeks out.

Third Lesson. Most of us will have “unremarkable findings” as our progress notes, and NOT anything unexpected. Just statistically speaking.

But I digress.

At my final follow-up in June for the February procedure, I asked my dermatologist to take another biopsy from another questionable spot because I had a feeling it was the same. And I was right. So, that Mohs Procedure to remove a spot on my tragus near my ear happened in August, and that was straightforward and unremarkable, thankfully.

More importantly, and the point of today’s podcast and article, because of my story last year, people I know have gone to the dermatologist because I talked about it. I can’t take the credit for them being brave. Because, let’s face it, stuff is scary sometimes.

Lesson 4: But, let’s de-mystify the scary. Let’s dispel the unfounded misconceptions or beliefs. Let’s have clear, specific, concise conversations about health care and wellness. Because those conversations inform others and may encourage them to take the big steps and do the right thing.

Which brings me to this February, 2025.

I don’t remember if I talked about it, but I had diverticulitis back in October, which I would wish on no one, it was terrible for a few weeks! And I healed and am fine. And between that episode for me and a family member’s recent related diagnosis, I knew that I needed to take the adulting step and schedule a colonoscopy.

Yep, I said it. A colonoscopy. My primary care physician advised me to schedule a Colonoscopy after I was pain free for a few months. I did a mail-in screening for colon cancer in December 2023 with clear results, but I knew that I needed to schedule one for real, considering my age, my issues in October and my updated family history. That was the first week in Feburary. It was a non issue. I made the consultation appointment six weeks prior for the end of January, they had openings to schedule within a week or two. Prep was fine, procedure was the blink of an eye, and we were driving home and I was drinking a Dunkin midnight coffee and eating a bagel by 10 am.

I’m really glad I did it. For my own peace of mind, I needed to. Because I’m trying to model good behavior to my family, my kids. I want to be able to be honest with them and let them know that I am being responsible with my health for myself, for my husband, for them. I want to set that good example. And, I yes, I just needed to know I’m ok. And I am.

Lesson 5: Because worry and concern drain our energy and our joy and our focus. And some worry and concern is avoidable if we just follow-up on what we’re supposed to follow-up on.

Lesson 6: I have a list.

Of course I have a list. Have you met me? And, you should have a list, too. And at least one loved one should know where it is.

Last week, I had an eye appointment to pick up my new contacts, and set another appointment for 6 months out, and scheduled other routine screenings for later in the summer.

I reached out to my dermatologist office to see if I should go in for my annual screening at the office I went to first or with the dermatologist who did my Mohs procedures who is at a different office.

I updated my personal wellness task list with dates for appointments I need to schedule, like a repeat CT of my abdomen six months after my diverticulitis, repeat labs for levels we are tracking, regular screenings appropriate to my age, and a follow up colonoscopy for 3-5 years.

Also on the list are the current precriptions I take, and the re-order dates for those.

Hooray for adulting. I stopped being bothered by having to do it, and I just do it. And if we keep up on the maintenance of our health care and wellness, we have the peace of mind that comes from knowing where we are and how we’re doing with up-to-date and relevant information.

My health is not perfect. My body is not perfect. I can state both of those facts out loud. But I have assembled a team of people to help me. I have baseline levels or experiences for most of my routine screenings. I have notes in my master to-do list of when my appointments are and what I need to scheduled next. I have links and logins and apps for my various patient portals with various offices and health care systems.

Let’s review today’s lessons, however many I ended up with:

  1. Being frustrated or concerend happens, but that doesn’t change the current situation.
  2. Yes, you likely carry damage from your life leading up to today, and we can’t change that, but we can change our path going forward.
  3. Statistically speaking, most of us will have “unremarkable findings” as our progress notes, and NOT anything unexpected.
  4. De-mystify the scary stuff with clear, specific, concise conversations about health care and wellness.
  5. Because worry and concern drain our energy and our joy and our focus. And some worry and concern is avoidable if we just follow-up on what we’re supposed to follow-up on.
  6. Have a list. (Of course!)

We don’t have to like it, but we have to do it. Because I care for all of you, I encourage you to do these things, too.

Please do. Please know that it’s important. Please automate everything you can. It’s only February. Please put items on your to-do list to contact your healthcare providers that you need to check in with during the course of the year. That may be making the appointments, but also make an appointment to make the appointments to ensure that those regular screenings and follow ups happen.

Peace of Mind is invaluable.

Finding, Keeping and Returning to Focus

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Last week, I mentioned that I am creating an upcoming professional development presentation around making the best use of our time, and helping us stay on task and focuses. To review, in last week’s podcast episode and article, the first part of that process needs to be identifying what is important for us to do, and what the best use of our time will be. And then we need to get to work! And, sometimes we need to get back to work, after distractions try to take us off course!

So this week, now that we know WHAT to do, we are looking at how to help a team and ourselves remain on task and stay focused, or return to focus throughout our day.

Today is about tools in that Focus Tool Box. I will mention many strategies. Some will resonate with you and some will not. And that’s ok. Perhaps one works with today’s schedule and workload but you need to try something else tomorrow with its schedule and workload. So it is good to have options!

A highlight of the tools we will touch on today, in no particular order:

  • Getting Ready and Self Regulation
  • Deep Breathing and Nature Breaks
  • Start with A Short List of 3
  • Block Time and Batch Work
  • Specificity
  • Recipes, for repeated work / duplicative processes
  • Phone calls are meetings. Schedule them, work with an agenda and keep them brief.
  • Factor in Rest
  • Routines for household tasks so they aren’t distracting us if we work from home

Getting Ready and Self Regulation:

I am a success coach for a cohort of students working through a 13 week Teacher’s Aide readiness program. And we were just working through the lesson on Student and Classroom Behavior. The Lesson talked a lot about self-regulation, and helping a student to be ready for and open to learning. And we, as adults, need to be the same, ready for and open to work. Some days, we may start our work day energized and focused and ready to do the work! And sometimes we are not. But even on the days we aren’t ready, the work still needs to get done.

So, how do we become ready for and open to learning or working? Perhaps we do a short meditation, read motivation words, do some deep breathing, phone a friend for a brief pep talk, take a walk around our work space and get the blood pumping. Maybe you have a “first few things” ritual, like grabbing a cup of tea or coffee or water, turning on your work lamp, putting your phone on silent, opening up the blinds. I have worked remotely for the 21 year life span of my business, but I will close my eyes and imagine the turning a Closed Sign on my door to Open as a signal to myself that it is work time!

Deep Breathing and Nature Breaks

Transitions are tough some days, and are often where we can lose focus the fastest! So as we shift from one batch of of work to another, or one block of time to the next, or start of finish a meeting, or drop the kids off at school and come home – whatever those look like to you – it helps to acknowledge that there is a transition, and also take a few minutes for self care. A hiking guide many years ago called them nature breaks, when we respect our biology and do those survival tasks we must! A new beverage, bathroom break, a few minutes of deep breathing to oxygenate our brain and refocus on the important stuff.

Start with a short and vital list of 3:

Every day needs a few of those needle movers that we talked about last week. Three, or maybe 4, tops. A short list, but a vital one. Every work day morning, or ideally, the night before as you close up for the day, identify the important tasks that MUST get done, in the midst of the rest of your work day. Those Best Use Of Our Time items that we identified last week. What is important, what is something only I can do, what are other projects waiting on me to complete, what work are other people on the team waiting for? For me, today that is write this article for podcast recording, publish this week’s newsletter and a coaching special, and pack my bag for the next two days of presentations. Those are the things that must get done, to deliver work to others and keep me moving towards my goals, in addition to the many meetings I have today. And, I have blocks of time today dedicated to those tasks, which brings me to Time Blocking and Batch Work.

Time Blocking and Batch Work

These are two related strategies, so I am lumping them together.

Per the Todoist.com website, Time Blocking “is a time management method where you divide your day into blocks of time. Each block is dedicated to a specific task or group of tasks. For example, you might block out 9 am to 10 am for checking and responding to emails, 10 am to 12 pm for working on a specific project, and 1 pm to 2 pm to have lunch at that new Thai restaurant.”

And Batch Work is related because it collects tasks of similar categories or themes, so we can complete them together and realize economies and synergy. For example, during an assigned time block, taking care of client communications. Like collecting and completing a batch of client care texts and emails with a copy and paste message and my schedule open as well for setting next client appointments.

In terms of Finding, Keeping and Returning to Focus, Time Blocking and Batch Work ensure that the work that we have decided is important today, that is the Best Use of Our Time, gets done!

Another example, during an assigned time block, typically on a Thursday, I tackle my accounts receivables and payable tasks when I have my calendar, and my bookkeeping and invoicing software open. I pay my bills, make deposits, send out invoices, check in on and send reminders on unpaid invoices owed to me. Because I like money. Money is important. I think all the income and banking and bill paying thoughts at the same time, which gets those tasks done more swiftly and well. (In recent podcast terms, both efficiently AND effectively!)

For yourself, take out the word money and fill in the blank. Maybe it’s an operations type of task. Maybe it’s new client focused for this hour and current client focused for the next hour. Or creating a new website and writing content for a few hours. What are your important things, and where is there a block of uninterrupted time to do them?

Block and Batch for the Knowns, and Leave Space for the unknowns.

We can start with our 3 or 4 things that we have to do today, but we also know that most days, new stuff also comes in. We start the day with our own intention, with our own plan, but we also need to leave space and flexibility for emails, calls, issues that come up outside of the plan. One strategy could be to plan for 30 minutes or an hour of intentional planned work, and then a 30 minute block of today’s emails / texts / phone calls / new concerns. Balancing planned work and new work ensures both get accomplished today.

Get Very Specific

We need to recognize that often our projects and work for today and this week are actually a group of tasks. We see this in Time Blocking and Batch Work, when we assign a “Bookkeeping and Money Tasks” Block, and identify the Batch work for that block.

When we get really specific with the tasks, it is also easier to prioritize the tasks, choose an easy and quick one to gain momentum, choose a tougher one when time and energy allows, etc.

I can add a block for client care, but some days, I need to list each client that I need to contact that day and what I need to contact them about. So when I sit down for that Time Block to do the work, I can more easily focus on tasks and not on the planning or thinking or ruminating about the task. Which leads us to, in some ways:

Recipes, for repeated work / duplicative processes

So I talk about recipes a lot, and that is a great way to stay on track and focused with recurring or repeated work. For example, one day last week, a Time Block was dedicated to February Presentations and the batch work was to confirm the 6 presentations I have coming up. And I have spoken in recent articles and episodes that I created a recipe for that repeated work. It is important work, presenting is an income stream for my business, it definitely moves me towards my goals. And confirming the presentations has become both efficient and effective with these Recipes.

So what did that look like? Let’s look at one specifically: A stress management class in the middle of February for the career readiness training program that I teach at south Suburban College. My recipe says: Presentation: What? (Stress Management) When? (Start and stop time, February 18, all day) Update Handouts; Update Invoice, Email invoice and handouts (I have a list of the handouts I need for each of my presentations) Pack Bag, etc.

And I can use this over and over again, each presentation (6 in February), every month, etc. And the recipe helps me to stay focused, and also to refocus if I get distracted. And that’s important because sometimes we are taken away from the task in front of us. And it’s a way for us to kind of bookmark our work and so we can get back to it when time allows and we can pick back up again where we left off. Right? So we leave ourselves these notes, these hints, these recipes, these, you know, love notes for later, whatever you want to call them, so that we can get back to business.

Manage Phone Calls Like Meetings

Manage your conversations, at least during work hours. What’s the purpose, agenda, desired outcomes, and realistic time estimate for a call. And run it like a meeting, with specific start and end times.

Factor in Rest:

The fact is, we can’t maintain focus if we don’t rest sometimes. I know today I have been talking all about how to maintain focus, and how to get back on track if we lose focus, etc. And sometimes the best way to do that is to step a way for a few minutes. No, sometimes the best use of my time is to lay on the couch and read a book. Because sometimes we just need to relax, right? So that can be the best use of our time as well. And we need to remember that, like, rest sometimes can be just as important as everything else. And I’m saying that out loud because I need to remember that for myself. Totally true.

Routines for Personal and Household Tasks

A tool for maintaining focus during our work day is having those routines I have been talking about, too, around personal and household tasks so that you don’t get distracted by those items when you need to be focusing on work.

Ok, whew! Let’s review the Focus tools in our Focus tool box!

  • Getting Ready and Self Regulation
  • Deep Breathing and Nature Breaks
  • Start with A Short List of 3
  • Block Time and Batch Work
  • Specificity
  • Recipes, for repeated work / duplicative processes
  • Phone calls are meetings. Schedule them, work with an agenda and keep them brief.
  • Factor in Rest
  • Routines for household tasks so they aren’t distracting us if we work from home

I mentioned we would review a lot of tools today! Which ideas resonate with you the most? What is one tool or strategy that you can see would help you this week? Give it a try!

The Best Use Of Time: Not Just Efficient But Effective

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I feel like there’s something about, Focus February. And I have to explain:

In Finish Line Friday, my free virtual productivity session every Friday, with my community that we’ve created in Finish Line Friday – I love my community that we’ve created – one of my participants, a fellow organizer here in the Chicago area, always uses alliteration when she states her intentions for how she plans to use Finish Line Friday. For example, It’s Finance Friday (bookkeeping and bill paying) and Fashion Friday (putting away laundry and packing for a trip).

So as I was thinking as I wrote today’s content, perhaps it is Focus February. Or not. It’s a little corny. But we’ll see where my writing and content calendar take me. The current plan is two upcoming episodes about focus, another about finances and one about medical follow up, so perhaps the Fs will work!

And now to today’s topic:

A company asked me to present a professional development session in February. When I asked about the topic they were looking for, the questions the coordinators asked were all about focus.

I know the participants and their industry, too, so I can write about focus and in the context of working remotely as they are all remote workers. Specifically, the topics are:

  • Make the best use of their time;
  • Helping the team remain on task, and
  • How to Stay Focused.

Excellent, yes, I can write a presentation for that, sounds great! And, then I thought those ideas also sound like great podcast episodes and articles, like for today and next week!

“How To Make The Best Use Of Their Time”.

Stepping to the side here, last week, I took you to college with me with a revisit from Intro to Psychology. This week, you’re going back in time with me to Productions and Operations Management, Junior year of college. It may not sound exciting, but it was one of my favorite Management classes and the content has certainly stuck with me.

This is a great question. An important question. A really big picture question, in business. But we need to lay a foundation before we can answer this question. First, we need to define “Best”, as in “of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality” (thank you, Google!).

In Productions and Operations Management, we talked about the difference between an efficient use of resources and an effective use of resources.

Efficiency is the LEAST outlay of resources like time, money, manpower and materials. Here, cheapest and quickest win the day. But that may not yield good results.

Effectiveness, on the other hand, is the BEST outlay of resources like time, money, manpower or materials. By using more resources, we can achieve the “the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality”.

In class, we looked at “efficient” versus “effective” in the auto industry. Cars could be cheaply and quickly made but they might not have been very good or reliable cars. Spending more time and money and labor yielded higher quality, more reliable and more desirable cars. That is where we’re coming from today.

As we determine the “Best” use of the participant’s time, we are going to look at effectiveness. How to choose the best combination of our resources. And in the workplace, and specifically for this company’s professional development, we want to encourage the Best. The Best use of our time means maybe we use a few more resources, like time and manpower, but choosing the Best use will have the biggest impact, the most positive impact on what we’re trying to achieve.

And to further define “Best”, we need to know what is important to those participants and the company. Because, here’s the thing, “Best” is a subjective statement. Meaning, it is very personal and individual to each participant, and to each of us, by extension. The “Best” use of my time will look different from everyone else.

Recalling that this is for a business specific professional development, “Best” in this case probably means productive, but also being productive with the right things, the best things. A coaching client in a recent session called them the Needle Movers – imagine your speedometer in your car. A lot of car references today! If you had a progress meter on your project task list, the Needle movers would move you closer to DONE! The needle movers, the change makers.

For all of us, then, to make the Best use of our time in the work place, we need to know what is important to move us towards our goals and desired outcomes, and get those important and needle-moving tasks done.

Which brings me to Focus Areas. As we determine our “Best”, we need to know our Focus Areas. What are yours? In your whole like, but also in your work life?

I’ve talked about Focus Areas in past podcast episodes and articles. But I would like to re-visit them for today’s article and podcast. Because we have to know our Focus areas to know we’re making the “Best” use of our time.

And I will use me as an example, because then I don’t have to ask for permission. In Life, my focus areas are Business, Home / Personal, Wellness, and Service like Board of Education Work and Ministry.

In my business, my Focus Areas are: Speaking and Teaching; Coaching Clients; Organizing Clients; Content like my podcast, newsletter, articles, website and social media; Education, like attending webinars and conferences for my Continuing Education Units; and the business of my business like bookkeeping, scheduling, etc.

So, as I decide how to spend my days, I keep those focus areas in mind. When tasks come up, or requests for my time, I filter those requests through that list of focus areas and decide where the request belongs or if I just need to say, No, Thank You.

My To-Do List is quite lengthy. Daily routine tasks, weekly tasks. And those aren’t even the actual work that I go and do with clients or students or with Board of Education work or with Ministry. The To-Do List is longer than I can ever accomplish in a day, so I have to narrow my options, zoom in and focus on what needs to happen just today to move that needle.

Because another challenge of course, in determining the “Best Use of Our Time” is that time is a limited resource. We only have so many hours in a day dedicated to work. And that is as it should be. We are more than just drones. But with time as a limited resource, we must use it wisely. We have to be a little choosy.

How do we do that? How do we choose? How do we choose the best use of our time today?

  • (If needed) What are my goals? Intentions?
  • What Focus Areas are we focusing on today?
  • What hours are available to me today?
  • When are my peak productive hours? Early in the day, mid day, evening, late evening?
  • What tasks or projects on today’s list are time-sensitive?
  • What tasks are other people relying on you to complete, so they can complete their work?
  • What can only I do? And subsequently, what can I delegate to others?

All of these are effectiveness questions. Not once did I ask, how do I do this the quickest, the easiest, the cheapest, etc.

Most days, I choose 3 or 4 Must Do tasks for today, from the lengthy to-do list. Truly, I try to choose my 3 or 4 the night before, for the next day. Some may be routine or urgent, and time specific, but almost every day I spend a little time on a longer, bigger, more strategic project, too. That is the BEST use of my time, working on the needle movers, the change makers.

For example, I was working on a project today and… well… I really didn’t want to do it. It was rather tedious, my attention was pulled in many different directions. I could easily have abandoned that project for something, well – anything else, really. But, looking at that list of questions:

Today’s project is attached to the larger project of relaunching my website, which is a goal. We have a time sensitive deadline. I have already delegated most of the work to my assistant who is awesome, but this project required me to make decisions that only I could make about content that needs to move from the old website to the new one. And we can’t relaunch until I complete this project. And while it was tedious, it didn’t actually take that long to complete. So I did it. It was the Best use of my time. It required time and attention and energy as resources, but it was a Needle Moving activity and now it’s complete.

As I wrap this up, because writing a longer article is not the Best use of my time today, and reading or listening to a longer article isn’t the Best use of yours, either, I want to share three caveats to making The Best Use Of Our Time, and they are:

  1. There can be more than one Best Use of our time. So we don’t have to get stuck on finding the perfect use of our time, just the Best. A Best.
  2. Some days we just need to act. We will talk about Focus next week, but there are some things we have to do that, going back to last week’s article, are just about survival and maintenance. But once those are accomplished, we can look to making progress, at the BEST use.
  3. Not everything can be your favorite. We can talk about Effectiveness and Focus Areas, etc., but we cannot feasibly focus on all the things every day, because then, really, we aren’t focusing on anything.

So on days when there are far too many tasks on the to-do list and far too many demands on our time, take a few minutes to ask yourselves the questions. When we seek the Best Use of our time, let’s look at the workday and determine “what is the most important thing that I get done today to continue to move forward?” I think that’s the most powerful question. Um, what are the two or three things. What are the two or three things that I can feasibly expect to accomplish, um, that will continue to move me forward?

To ensure we make the best use of our time, let’s focus on what is important to us and the tasks that we need to complete to tend to and achieve those important things!

Bullet Journal: Ever Present and Indexing

Okay, next up on the list, let’s talk about Bullet Journal. Bullet Journaling. My bullet journal.

Now, this is a big deal for a lot of reasons, and I’m going to tell you why.

It’s September, and September is National Preparedness Month. I have shared a lot of information over the years about National Preparedness Month. We all benefit from that reminder that we need to have our ducks in a row, or at least know what and where are our ducks are. We need to be ready for life. And I will talk about National Preparedness Month in a couple of weeks, but that is not today’s topic.

One of the ways that I stay in a state of Ready, how I manage all the things that I manage – and there are a lot of those things – is using something called a Bullet Journal. I am going to reference now Ryder Carroll who created Bullet Journal, and also bulletjournal.com if you would like to know more.

And to give credit where credit is due, I need to give a nod to my dear friend Mark who introduced me to the idea many years ago. Mark has since passed, unfortunately, but I think of him kindly when I am working in my Bullet Journal.

I just started a new journal last week. Starting fresh is such a good feeling. A Bullet Journal is a tool. That’s all. It’s a very personalizeable tool. Mark and I taught Bullet Journaling classes over the years and it was good for us to teach it together because Bullet Journaling is so personal and individualized, it’s good to have two different people’s input.

There are many facets of a Bullet Journal that I love. Honestly, it’s a notebook. That’s it. It’s a notebook. How you use that notebook makes it a Bullet Journal. If you’d like to go to the Bullet Journal website and spend a lot of money on a very snazzy notebook – they are very pretty – Go for it. But before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you why I love my Bullet Journal.

A Bullet Journal is a tool, and the concept comes with rules and suggestions, a technique, with ways of doing things, and you can choose to use it or not, and you can choose to abide by the rules and suggestions or not. I find it very helpful, and there are two facets of Bullet Journaling that I will talk about today that can be applied to any other notebook or note taking device, as well.

One aspect I love about my Bullet Journal is that it is ever present, ever ready. As I am writing this article, it is physically at my right hand on my desk. And when I get ready to go in a few minutes, I will slip it into my backpack which is twelve inches away from it at present, and it will go with me and be ever present as I go about my day as well.

I love technology, I am a tech girl. I use my phone and iPad and laptop ALL DAY. But there are also times in my day that I that I need to write something down as opposed to entering it into my phone or laptop somehow. Maybe I need to scratch a 2 word reminder to run an errand while I sit at a stoplight, right? So I do. Because my Bullet Journal is ever present. And I don’t necessarily want to pick up my phone because well, it’s illegal and ill advised.

Whenever a thought strikes me, I can quickly jot it down, and I recognize there are many opportunities in my day where those thoughts to strike!

And this is why I am sharing. I know many people, clients and colleagues, who write down notes on whatever is handy. The back of mail envelopes, shopping bags, the margins of a book, on a newspaper, on their hands. (Yes, their hands, 25 years ago – I worked for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of Illinois, Chicago and yes, our residents would sometimes jot down lab results on their hands because that’s what was available when they took a call from the lab about a patient.)

If I am already on a call, sometimes it’s just easier to write the customer service reference number or my family member’s hospital room number. And sometimes, I don’t want to get distracted by my screen so I will make a note to “look up jar salad recipes”, or write a really cool quote that I read in a devotion this morning.

One client in particular asks as we discover notes on note paper, receipts, envelopes, whatever – “What is wrong with me!?” Nothing’s wrong with her. But her notes and therefore her thoughts end up a hodgepodge, which makes it difficult to retain or review that information or get to what is really important. Whenever we’re working on her papers, we find notes all over the place but without context, they are difficult to process.

Which leads me to the second thing that I love most about my Bullet Journal and that is the Index. Which is just what it sounds like. Read any published material and it likely has an index. So you can find what you need when you need it.

On my Bullet Journal next to me, I have today’s date listed, and some notes below. Later today, I have a doctor’s appointment and I’m going to have some notes from that in my Bullet Journal. Later still, I will run a rehearsal for my choir and I will surely add more thoughts and tasks to the page.

In a couple of weeks, if I want to refer back to what we talked about today with my doctor, I’m going to be able to check the index and flip to the page from today.

My index pages, the first 4 pages of a Bullet Journal, will have three columns for page number, dates and then topics per page. So I can readily find information again if I need it.

And – you can do this with any notebook you already have, too! (I rocked a client’s world a few weeks ago with this concept – she was so excited to add an index to existing note books to make them make sense!!)

Yes, you can take an existing notebook, number the pages and if it is too late to add an index to the front, add it to the last 4 pages instead. Three columns for page number, date and topic. Sometimes my topic is “Life”, and sometimes it is “Dr. Appt, School Board Meeting regarding Finances, blog article ideas, etc.” Let’s say, on pages 13 and 14 are notes from the special board meeting regarding finances and in a month or two, I want to go back and look at that, I can flip to the index, see pages 13 and 14, and can flip to those pages with consistency, confidence.

I usually fill up a Bullet Journal in 4-5 months, but the notes and index still exist, so I can always go back and look for things if I need to.

A real life example, I had a client who was moving cross country. She called about apartments on the west coast and she had a notebook full of notes. But when it came time to actually travel, she was worried about being able to find the specific places and people that she had talked to, to reference while she sat in the office with the people. She had a notebook full of information, but it wasn’t as useful as it could be. I suggested she go back, and number the pages of the notebook, determine what date (approximately) she spoke with people at each apartment complex, and add that info to an index at the back of the notebook. She spoke to so and so on this date regarding these apartments, and this is how much a 1 bedroom costs, or a 2 bedroom, square footage, amenities, if there is a garage, how long is the waiting list, etc. And then, when she sat in the office on the west coast in-person, she could easily flip to that page easily and say, when we spoke on this day, you mentioned x, y and z” that conversation would be that much more fruitful. It really helped with the home search to be able to find that information again.

Another real world example, inspired by a conversation with my college student son. My son is taking a philosophy class this semester and his professor does not allow electronic note taking. I wish I had known about indexing when I was still a student, because, um, it’s so helpful. So, you know, on the back page of his notebook, on the first page, if he’s thinking of it, but definitely on the last couple pages, he could absolutely, you know, again, number the bottom of the notebook pages, and then pages one and two, or pages, you know, page one was first day of class. Page three, two, three and four were second day. And we talked broadly about this and this, right. And, uh, pages five through eight, we’re studying for the first quiz, um, on such and such a date regarding, um, such and such a topic, right. So you can index anything, and it’s so helpful.

Bullet Journaling for goal setting, time management and productivity!

This is definitely an article about my love for Bullet Journaling but I suggest that you consider how you could apply the idea of one ever present notebook and the idea of indexing to your current methods of note taking, if you have them. These ideas are specific to Bullet Journals, sure, but the two ideas that I’ve mentioned today can be used independently of bullet journaling as well. Give these ideas a try, and let me know what you think!

Peace-mck

Multitasking Is A Myth, Here’s a Different Strategy

I don’t know if I’ve ever said this in a blog article, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t said it in a podcast episode, but here is a bold statement.

Are you ready?

Multitasking is a myth.

And I am saying this as a person who spends most of her days doing what looks like multitasking. The real irony is that I started writing this content while driving (I record it as a voice memo to transcribe later), and now I am editing it while hosting my Finish Line Friday productivity session. Looks like multitasking, but it isn’t.

And here is the thing: when we think we are multitasking, we are really switchtasking. This term was first introduced to me by Dave Crenshaw, just want to give credit where credit is due.

Unless we truly are just walking and talking, or watching TV and eating popcorn, or riding in a car and watching the scenery, our brain is actually switching back and forth between tasks.

So the point is, multitasking is a myth. Our brains truly are not capable of doing multiple things at a time well. We can’t do them well. At least, depending on the different tasks, right?

Perhaps I can drive and also take a call, but I’m not doing either task then as well as I could. And certainly not in a congested area where I also need to pay attention to the navigation a little bit more closely. So I absolutely end calls with people, or I just don’t answer my phone, because sometimes, yes, I recognize that my brain can’t necessarily do two high focus things at once.

It’s not that we can’t do multiple things at once, it really depends on the complexity or severity or the type of action.

I can chat with my husband while we take a walk. I can cook and listen to music. I can wash the dishes or clean the house and talk to somebody on the phone. We CAN do multiple things at once. However, with high level thinking and focus, we cannot multitask. What is occurring in your brain, again, is switch tasking. Switch tasking is what it sounds like, switching our focus. And every time we switch our focus, we have to refocus on the thing in front of us, and then when we switch back, we have to refocus again on this new thing that we’re focusing on now.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I know that there are some days that I can focus easily and switch easily, and there are some days that I cannot switch easily or refocus easily. And what that means to me is that my capacity to focus is a limited commodity and can be used up over the course of a day or week. Like energy and time and decision-making capacity. Those three things, too, are also needed to get things done and are also finite resources that can get used up, more quickly on some days than others.

My ability to switch and re-focus is finite, and may be affected on some days by external factors like my quantity and quality of sleep the night before, or how noisy my work space is, or how often my phone is chiming at me with notifications.

Switch tasking requires focus, energy, brain space or bandwidth, whatever you want to call it. And uses these up faster than just regular tasking, if that’s a word. There may come a point, some days earlier in the day than others, when we can’t switch-task successfully. We are not as productive as we want to be, or should be.

We can spend all of that focus and energy and time, and then it’s gone. We can deplete the well, we can empty the wallet, we can use all the water in the jug and it’s empty. We won’t have more until we take a break and replace it somehow. We can switch back and forth, but at what price? What’s the cost?

There is a better way. We can, at least some times, focus fully on what we’ve got going on in front of us and similar tasks so our brain doesn’t have to keep switching. Yes, lets work on that. So we can get more done and more importantly, we can get things done without completely depleting our brain!

Recently with a client, we were discussing Batch work. She has a lot of different tasks that she needs to take care of. Don’t we all? There are things that need to be done, and the sheer quantity of tasks is overwhelming to her, AND the variety of things is also overwhelming to her. And right now, she only sees them all together. She’s not seeing them prioritized, she’s not seeing them categorized, she’s not seeing them in any of those ways. And so that means it’s even more overwhelming.

And at this moment, for a couple of reasons, she is depleted of energy and bandwidth already, and she is finding it very difficult to get things done. We worked on papers together, and recognized, too, that her papers are a representation of the tasks that need to be completed. Papers are also time management, in this case, especially. She might have a medical bill that needs to be paid, but she also needs to call the doctor and ask a question. Each piece of paper represents a couple different things for her. She was seeking a way to categorize broad categories of the papers and actions because she know multitasking wasn’t working and categories made more sense, especially at this moment.

So we talked about batch work. We talked about grouping similar papers and therefore tasks together like putting all the bills to pay in one place and then putting a date on the calendar or an appointment on the calendar for a couple hours every week to get the bills paid. Or, how she has follow-up tasks for a legal challenge that she’s got going on. And so she needs to put an appointment on the calendar every week for making calls or following up until progress is made.

Batch work can occasionally offer synergies or economies of scale. Meaning, when we group the tasks together, they end up taking far less time than they would if we did each separately. For example, reviewing the legal papers and making one call to the attorney and asking multiple questions at once saves time and money.

Having these tasks, or similar tasks, is inevitable. How do we do them better? How do we do them with less stress? How do we do it so we’re not depleted at the end? How do we set ourselves up to succeed?

Because, let’s face it, it’s possible that we switch tasks so often in a work session that we never actually accomplish or complete anything! We feel like we’re working like crazy, but nothing ever actually gets done.

Done. Done! Yeah for Done! If we are working towards Done, or Accomplished or Completed, let’s think in batches. We can do things so they’re actually all the way to done.

Conversely, we can also do batches of work in an assigned time and say, that’s good enough. We can get as done as we can for today and then move on to a different type of task. For example, I don’t get to sit and do 12 hours of money and bill paying in a day. It doesn’t usually work that way.

What is more useful to me instead is doing a batch of home maintenance tasks in the morning, like starting laundry and the dishwasher, after a batch of personal hygiene tasks like taking a shower and brushing my teeth.

I may remember, while showering, that I need to pay a bill but I will not be writing checks while I’m in the shower. We can see that is silly, but we absolutely try to do those kinds of things at the same time. So let’s not do that. Let’s do one thing, or one type of batch of things until they are done right.

The personal hygiene tasks, then I am done and ready to move on.

Then house tasks and then I am done. Then a handful of kitchen tasks like make my coffee, take my vitamins and pack my lunch. Those are all batches, and they’re obvious, so lets look at the rest of our tasks in batches as well.

Instead of switch tasking and asking more of my brain than I need to, than you need to, we can put those different tasks that we need to accomplish together in batches and just think bill paying tasks or money tasks or house management tasks.

In my company, I have four different focus areas or income streams. I will batch all my speaking engagement tasks together – following up on upcoming presentations, printing copies of my handouts, sending invoices. Then, with my calendar on my screen, I’ll batch client scheduling tasks and emails. Then I might shift to writing and content creation tasks, whatever those look like. But instead of having to switch back and forth and manage my focus like that, I can do all of those different things in a batch. I don’t have to keep switching my focus and my energy. I can save that for other things later in the day, or I can just do them with more ease. That works both ways. And I’m more likely to actually get things done with a lot less stress. And isn’t that what we’re working towards? I know it’s what I’m working towards.

Let’s recap:

Multitasking is a myth. Sorry.

Switch tasking is real and doable and can be useful, but may also use up our focus and energy and other resources faster than regular work.

If you’re tired of switch tasking and / or want to give another strategy a try, experiment with Batch work to work with your brain and help you get more done with less hassle.

Give it a try!

Re-Entry After Travel: Bumps in the Road

Let’s call this one Re-Entry 2.0, or “Things to do your first 24 hours home!“

We traveled the last week of May for a family wedding in Baltimore.

In the interest of getting the Midwest grandparents (4) to the East Coast wedding, last Fall we rented a 15 passenger van for the event. This was my husband’s idea and it was brilliant. He and I took turns driving on the 11-ish hour trip to and from Baltimore. Seriously, he is brilliant. He even downloaded to his phone the top 100 songs from 1963 as a road-trip soundtrack. Our passengers were happy.

Here is a picture of the bus, or officially, the “Bus (NotSchoolBus)”. I’m calling it a “Bus (NotSchoolBus)” because that is the category type listed for it on the Safety Compliance Certification Label, a.k.a., the door jamb label.

Here's a shot of me and my co-pilot somewhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Me and my co-pilot (my son) somewhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was great! I am so happy for my niece and my new nephew. They are delightful people who deserve every good thing in life. I love the rest of my family, too. There were good times and great memories made. For the most part, every bit of planning yielded the expected and desired results. Lots of laughs, some Euchre (IFKYK), lots of food, adventures, ice cream, hiking and hanging out and of course the wedding!

AND there were a few snags. I will not go into details, but I will say that everyone is fine and now home. However, after two ambulance rides and ER visits, the Courtyard by Marriott Baltimore BWI may never let our family stay there again. Ever. And I don’t really blame them for that.

There were many uncertainties as we returned and some concern that we may have to adjust our travels or even travel back to Baltimore. And because of all the extra unexpected pieces, being intentional about re-entry was more important than ever. Here are suggestions to help you tackle Re-Entry and also set yourself up to succeed and even to travel again!

A cloudy and choppy day in Annapolis, MD

Unpack the car.

All the way. Yes, all the way. This is our usual practice, but it became necessary and not optional because we had to return the bus to the rental company. Everything had to come out of the bus, all luggage, all rubbish was disposed of, etc.

We also might take the car to the carwash and give it a vacuum, if we had traveled in our own car.

Unpack the bags.

All of them. YES, all of them.

You don’t want to wait and find a neglected apple or granola bar in your hiking backpack a few weeks down the road. Or dirty clothes or shoes, etc. Unpack the bags.

I was reminded of how important this step is when I found my mom’s handicap parking hangtag in one of our bags. Did I mention? My family lives in Michigan, and I live in Chicago. Thankfully I found the hangtag right away and it was out via UPS overnight delivery first thing the next morning.

Multiple loads of laundry were started and completed, and the dressier items like suits and dresses were taken to the cleaners.

Put the bags away.

Yes AWAY. All the bags. You could argue that if I was worried that I might have to travel again for an emergency, perhaps it would make sense to leave a suitcase out. And as an organizer, I will say – unless you know you have a trip planned, it never makes sense to leave a suitcase out. Working with so many clients over the years, very often I will walk into a closet or bedroom or basement storage space or garage, and one of the first things we do to make improvements is to put away the luggage that never made it back to its storage space. Such an obvious solution. Take the few extra minutes and put the bags away.

Toiletries: Re-fill and repack, order extras.

I know I have spoken about this step before, in podcasts last Spring and Summer. It was even more important that I re-filled and re-packed my supplies this week, though, in case I need to travel again soon.

Recharge stuff.

I have a power bank that lives in my travel tech bag, and I used it on our adventure. Not knowing what this week might bring, I made sure to re-charge it. I charged my portable keyboard for my IPad for the same reason. My daily habit, travel or not, is to recharge my phone, AirPods, Apple watch and IPad at night so those are good to go whenever.

Buy groceries.

We needed to restock A LOT of items when we got back from our adventures, and I knew that was a necessity even before we left. I planned a trip to Costco for our first day back and I let Costco do the cooking this week (I’m looking at you, rotisserie chicken, stuffed peppers and backed chicken alfredo). Later that day, I placed the Jewel grocery order for all the stuff I don’t buy at Costco. Within 24 hours of arriving home, the cabinets and fridge were back to normal levels.

So this next step is where the Re-Entry 2.0 comes in.

We were gone for 6 days! And it was awesome! As I described in a text today, “Weekend was mostly amazing, with just a few snags”. I can unpack, repack and re-stock. I can re-charge actual batteries.

But… I also need to re-charge metaphorical batteries.

With the few snags, I actually asked for flexibility and grace via email and texts when people needed something from me this week. I don’t usually feel the need to explain myself or excuse a delay, but this week was not a typical week for lots of reasons.

I restocked groceries, purchased prepared foods and I didn’t expect myself or anyone else to cook. I slept. I was very tired. At writing time, I still am. These last few days, I gave up trying to stay up when my brain and body said ‘enough’. I re-committed to most of my healthy habits: hydrated, returned to exercising, healthier food options, etc.. And, I set myself up to succeed in case I was called away out of town again.

Now… I just need to tackle the rest of the to-do list! But that is another episode for another day!

“My Tree Has Leaves!” What Do You Need, To Thrive?

“My tree has leaves!”

I stood in my dining room this morning and exclaimed this excitedly out loud to absolutely no one.

I was drinking my coffee and gazing out my newly washed (over the weekend) front windows and admiring the sunshine and realized my new little tree has leaves! This is noteworthy, trust me.

You see, we had a tree in front of our house for many years. He was so beautiful in the Fall that people would stop and ask if they could pick up some of his leaves because they were so brilliantly colored.

And then, after one of those years with blight or borers, he wasn’t doing so well. We did what we could to help him out for a few years, fertilizer and extra water, etc., but his days were numbered, and eventually our village’s arborist said the tree needed to go before the tree hurt someone or someone’s car if he fell over, or infected other trees.

So we had the tree cut down. We liked having a tree in the front yard, though, so the next Spring we had another tree planted. This new tree had two seasons to thrive, but he never did. The second season, I think he had one leaf. Just one. Sadly, he, too, had to go.

We were assured that our yard and the placement and the type of tree were not the problems, that more likely that particular sapling wasn’t healthy. Fast forward to last Fall when we had another tree installed. Hope springs eternal, right? And since he was installed in the Fall after leaves fell, we had no way of knowing if he was healthy or not. But he is! And now that Spring is here, he has leaves! Now you know why I was rejoicing!

I heard a statement many months ago and it has stuck with me. It was a Facebook reel or tik-tok, and I don’t remember who said it, so if you know and can tell me, I will cite it appropriately. Here’s the quote – “Seeds aren’t lazy and neither are you.”

Meaning, if a seed doesn’t grow, we don’t say the seed is lazy. No one tells the seeds they are lazy. And if you aren’t flourishing, it’s probably not because you’re lazy. Seeds aren’t lazy and neither are you.

What is more likely is that the seed and you don’t have what is needed to thrive.

Like my original tree or my first little sapling. After my original tree was weakened, we tried to support him but he was too far gone. And my first little sapling – well, I have no idea why he didn’t thrive but we were assured that the environment we provided would support a sapling, just not that one apparently.

We can ask what a tree needs – a hospitable environment, the right climate, sunshine, water, opportunity. And patience. And then we step back and let it grow.

Sometimes, a plant can receive too much care. Yes, that is a possibility. Metaphorically and actually.

A couple summers ago, I had what I thought were fruit flies. Except – we don’t leave fruit or any other food out on the counter. And the fruit fly solutions according to the internet, like vinegar and dish soap in a jar or the cool ultraviolet fan thing I bought on Amazon, did not work. And the fruit flies were on my houseplants. So after a little more googling, I determined that the reason the anti-fruit fly solutions weren’t working was because what I thought were fruit flies were fungus gnats. Which I feel sound monumentally more disgusting. But, I digress.

The solution to the fungus gnats, by the way, was to water my plants less and also use a peppermint spray from Amazon that cleared up the gnats in a week. It turns out, you CAN care too much. I was apparently overwatering. I cared a little too much.

Taking the metaphorical leap, often we need to adjust our supports or environment to help us grow. Sometimes we don’t have what we need to thrive, either not enough or too much! And sometimes we just aren’t in the right situation.

Awareness. Awareness. Awareness.

For us to flourish, we may need to take a moment or some time to review where we are, what we need, what we don’t need, and how we will know we are flourishing. But what do we do with that statement? I always want to recommend actionable steps that we can apply this week, or whatever week you are listening to this episode!

Sticking with the plant theme, I will share that I am a joyous but indifferent gardener. I love to plant veggies and herbs and to care for them outside in the summer. I like the “getting my hands in the dirt” and “puttering in the garden” parts of gardening, they are fun and relaxing to me. I also love the “using fresh veggies and herbs from the garden in my cooking” part, I find that fun, too, and it supports my desire to eat healthy and well.

It seems that in my garden and in life, we can walk through the process for a better yield, whether that is tomatoes or priorities or productivity or whatever it is we’re looking to improve! And as I write this article, I realized that last week’s PACT goals article could have been all about gardening, too – the process and not a once-and-done event!

To review, PACT goals stand for: Purpose; Action; Continuous; and Trackable.

Let’s start with our Purpose. For example, I can say “I want to be a better gardener.” And in this example, “better” means more yield per plants.

Next, I need to determine my Actions. I can educate myself by talking to other gardeners (who actually know what they are doing!), reading books or reading up on-line. Once I know more, I could choose to plant dozens of types of vegetables this summer and hope that some of them work out. OR, I could narrow in on fewer types of vegetables and get better at those specifically. Given my small back yard, I will choose to focus on a few types of vegetables and get better at those specifically. For example, I love growing (and eating!) tomatoes but my plants didn’t produce much of anything last year. So I need to learn and take new actions!

Once I know more, I can decide and then act to water more often or less, provide more sun or less, more or less pruning, etc. I can pay attention to what other inputs or supports I can use to improve my outputs. I always use physical supports like a tomato cage, because sometimes we all need more support!

Continuous care is required for plant success. Once I know what actions to take, I need to be consistent with taking them! I will add morning gardening into my summer morning routine, to water and tend. And I will be ready to observe and adjust my regular activities, too, based on progress. And I can track the progress, like plant height, growth, number of flowers (that will turn into tomatoes later), and yield at the end of the season, to learn from the process.

Well-intentioned care, not too much and not too little, and a supportive environment will help my little sapling and my garden grow this summer. Goal setting, and PACT goals specifically, can help us flourish by determining the right supports for us and what we want to achieve, the routine and habits around implementing those supports, and how to make adjustments to be successful.

I took a walk last evening, and I noticed the two trees in front of a neighbors house have the same red-brown leaves my little leafy sapling has (I believe he is a maple). These two trees tall and full and gracious, sharing their shade and beauty with the neighborhood. That is what I want for my little tree and, metaphorically, what I want for you as well. Have a great week!

Take Your Accountant’s Advice (or mine)

I’m writing this on Tax Day, April 15, 2024.

Did you know? I have two accountants in my life, my husband and now my oldest son.

We all have our strengths, and these two are very organized about a lot of things and especially around helping people with their taxes.  It’s funny to me, neither my husband nor my son are in tax accounting for their job, but they both help friends and family members this time of year.

And, in keeping with last week’s topic of deadlines, I will be very happy for them both when the tax deadline has passed and they can get back to a more regular schedule!

At dinner last night, I asked Greg that if he was on this week’s podcast,  what would he want you all to know? So here we go: a collaboration between my accountant, the most organized person I know when it comes to money, and me, your certified professional organizer.  Maybe some day I will get him on the podcast!

  • First up, he and I both recommend that you create a couple of file folders this week.
    • Name one 2024 Taxes, or 2024 Supporting Tax Documents or something like that.
    • Start another one called 2024 Paid Bills.
    • The 2024 Supporting Tax Documents is a waiting receptacle for anything that comes along that you need to keep for next year’s tax time.  During the year, we might receive, for example, thank you letters or receipts for charitable donations, and you can just drop those in the waiting file. In addition, you now will have a safe place to keep your 2024 tax documents when they start to arrive the end of January, 2025.
    • The 2024 Paid Bills file is for for just that – Paid Bills in 2024.  If you still receive paper bills and if you keep them after they are paid, drop them in there as the year progresses.  We don’t really need to keep them in separate folders. I mean – how often do you go back and look at them anyway?
    • These first two files need to be kept close at hand.
  • Next up, make a folder for your filed 2023 taxes, if you have them in paper form.  This file does not need to kept so close at hand, but it certainly needs to be kept.  In the safe? Bottom file drawer?  Or digitally, save them on your computer and back them up on your external hard drive or the cloud.
  • If you really want to do next year’s you a a solid, make a note of what documentation you required for your 2023 tax filing – W2s, 1099’s, interest statements from investments, etc..
    • Let’s face it, our financial life – at least the accounts, not necessarily the amounts – don’t vary too much from year to year.
    • So, 2023’s filed tax return is going to be a great place to get ready for your 2024 filing in 2025.
  • Ok, now here is the real tax advice:
    • Here is the other thing I want you to do for future you.
      • Go to your calendar on your phone, on your to-do list, in your paper calendar for 2024 on the last page that is for planning for 2025.
        • On February 1, 2025, make yourself an appointment on your calendar to check out your 2024 Supporting Tax Documents file. Look at whatever information has accumulated in there from this current year. Look at the list in there that you made for what end of year statements, wage information, etc. that you’re waiting for and start keeping an eye out for it.
        • Also on February 1, 2025, put a date on the calendar to do your taxes or to go and meet with your accountant.
  • Finally, learn from your 2023 tax experience.
    • Are you getting a tax refund?
      • Cool. That works.
      • Some people intentionally use their taxes and tax refund as a savings account.
    • Do you owe taxes?
      • Less cool, I know. But it means you brought home more pay during the year.
      • And some people just expect that they will owe taxes and plan accordingly.
    • If you would like to adjust the taxes that get taken out of your pay during the year, to also then adjust your tax refund or your tax bill, you can do that.  Adjust your withholdings with your HR department, if you have one, or send in quarterly tax payments.
    • And here is a public service announcement: if your accountant gives you suggestions on how to make the tax process go easier next time, please listen to them and take action. They are our experts and we need to heed their advice.
      • For example, I have some homework to do. I need to make changes about how I note things in Quicken, because apparently my accountant and I have vastly different definitions about what constitutes as “Owners Equity”. My accountant is honest and patient, even when I was confused. But we’ll get there.

Don’t scramble, don’t procrastinate.  Give yourself the gift of calm competence in 2025.

Body Doubling and “How Does Finish Line Friday Work”?

How Does Finish Line Friday Work? And, What Is Body Doubling?

I’d like to reintroduce body doubling. 

I was driving to a client appointment as I started to dictate this content out loud.  One benefit of slowly easing back into in-person clients this week is that I increased my commute time. I don’t really look forward to commuting time, but it is also uninterrupted time for me to think, and that is helpful! 

I like to be productive with my time. And while I love quiet uninterrupted time, there is still something to be said about working with other people, too! Enter, body doubling.

My phone has a name, my laptop has a name. Believing that there is somebody on the receiving end of what I have to say anchors me to the space. Believing that someone is expecting me and someone’s on the other side of that anchors me so I don’t get distracted.

A new community member reached out to me via email.  I believe she has started following me and my content in the last few months at one of my recent presentations. She visited a recent Finish Line Friday and wasn’t sure how it all works.  So, this is for you, Karen. I will endeavor to explain more clearly what exactly Finish Line Friday is, and how we use the strategy of Body Doubling and the Pomodoro Method of time management to increase productivity.

Body doubling is a productivity tool, a strategy, call it what you would like. In my own experiences and with my clients, body doubling helps us be more productive. Body doubling is one of the many perks of working with a professional organizer because having a person with you in your space as you work can be very motivating. It anchors us to the work and the space.  

Same goes for coaching. Body doubling is absolutely vital. For example, early in the pandemic lock down, a number of my clients struggled with the new phenomenon of unattached work time, of working virtually for the first time and it was not working for them.  They did not feel that they were being as productive as they could be, because it turns out that being around other people who were also working on similar things helped them to stay on track.

There were hours when I would sit in a zoom room or on Facetime with a client and they were doing their work and I was doing my work, and that would help my client stay on track. If a question came up, I’d be happy to answer it or I was ready to listen attentively. One client in particular would sometimes need to verbally work through something because she’s a verbal processor, and we would do this parallel play, this body doubling, for a few hours at a time because she knew that she needed support around some of the tougher projects.

Body doubling isn’t needed for every task.  You are a capable, productive person.  But some tasks are harder to tackle than others, and that is when we bring in tools. 

My middle son lives alone, but in community, in theater housing. He has his own apartment but he and his fellow actors all live in the same apartment complex.  He mentioned that there are times when he needs to get things done. Maybe he needs to tackle a project that he’s having some kind of mental or motivational block around, and he’ll have his friend come over and she can work on whatever she wants to work on or play video games, it really doesn’t matter. That’s not the point. he point is, having somebody else physically in his space keeps him from getting distracted.  She doesn’t have to remind him, it’s just her presence that will remind him.   He calls it Parallel Play, like when two year olds play next to each other on the floor with some blocks.  They’re developmentally too young to play together but they play with their own thing side by side.

Finish Line Friday is like parallel play. And here is how it works:

Finish Line Friday uses the Pomodoro method of 25 minutes of work and five minutes of rest.  Studies have shown the most efficient and effective ratio of work to rest is 52 minutes and ten minutes. For every 52 minutes of work, we need ten minutes of rest. And after three or four cycles of that, we need a longer period of rest. Imagine you start your workday at nine. You work from nine to 9:50 then take a 10 minute break. You work from ten to 1050, take a 10 minute break. You work eleven to 11:50, and then maybe you take half an hour for lunch. Right?  So, this cycle is something we may already be familiar with.

As a participant in Finish Line Friday the other day said, we know these things, but it’s really helpful to hear them said out loud by others.

Finish Line Friday helps us get into the healthy and productive habit of 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest. 

In practice, for Finish Line Friday:

  • We all hop into the zoom room at 9 am;   
  • We arrive with our own work for the 2 hour session;
  • We spend a few minutes chatting;
  • We set our intentions for our first 25 minutes of work;
  • I share my screen with a 25-minute countdown clock, counting down to the next 5 minute break.
  • Then, I mute all of us, though we can stay on screen.  That’s how that works.
  • We work for the 25 minutes, check in for the break with another 5 minute countdown clock, and start all over again.
  • And we just do that for four cycles. 
  • There are not assignments, at least not from me!  Come to us with your own agenda, with your own work, with your own ideas about what you want to get done.

Yes, I’m happy to talk to you about productivity or triaging your to-do list or prioritizing.  We can absolutely do that in the breaks or in the chat.  I facilitate productivity, but we are working side by side. We are working together on our own things, myself included. We all come with our own agenda, and I supply the structure and the community. 

I supply the structure and the community. That’s Finish Line Friday. 

Recently, the work has included: 

  • one participant was uploading artwork to a shared drive;
  • another was getting ready for houseguest and was grateful for a 2 hour block of time, knowing that they would get some stuff done, maybe talk to people on the break, and have fun (and that is FLF does for them);
  • a first-time participant was excited to get through a couple of planning tasks and then start working on a professional project; and
  • I cleaned out my in-boxes, wrapped up messages for the week, then moved on to writing presentation content for a project I’m working on for my national association. 

Now that I have more fully explained Finish Line Friday, please assemble your to-do list and plan to join us for a Friday morning of getting things done!

Eliminate Brain Clutter With A Cranial Cleanse

In a recent Finish Line Friday session, one of my regular participants mentioned she was working on “The Smalls” during our time together.  She explained that it was the end of a very busy week.  She had been home long enough between events and appointments to make piles but not to put away the piles. She said “Every room had a pile of smalls.”

And the other participants nodded understandingly because we’ve all been there.  Regularly!

That always makes me smile. Not because someone is struggling, but because most of us understand what “The Smalls” means.

And because the words  – The Smalls – sound funny to me and many people express frustration about The Smalls, in sometimes passionate and colorful language! For example, I have another friend and client who, when I ask her what we’re working on today, will occasionally say “The Smalls, Coll!  It’s The Smalls!” with perhaps some frustration and colorful words!

Here’s the thing:

The Smalls can be physical things in our spaces.

They can be a jumble of papers on the kitchen counter, the pile of Lego bits, Barbie shoes and puzzle pieces at the bottom of a bin of toys, or the contents of an everything drawer in the kitchen. (I personally don’t call them junk drawers, because if you call it a junk drawer, guess what ends up inside?)  If the person I mentioned in my first example is like me, the smalls in every room that she mentioned are bag contents from meetings and events, random clothing items or shoes at the back door that have been cycled through and now need to be put away, neglected amazon boxes and mail at the front door, etc.

Bear in mind, none of these items is technically clutter.  They are all things we obviously need, use or love – they just need tended to.

But they pile and they distract and they call out to us for attention and energy.

Which leads me to – The Smalls can be thoughts and ideas in our brains.

“Small” doesn’t indicate importance, or in the definition of “small”, perhaps un-importance, but instead their size.  “The Smalls” means that SO MANY MORE can fit in a space.  Like I have 100 ideas or to-dos or tasks in my brain and they’re all crammed in there making each look small. And they’re all clamoring to get out!

Some of the challenges with The Smalls, either on the kitchen counter or in our brain:

  • There are MANY.
  • They aren’t just clutter.  They are likely important and require care and attention.
  • Right now, they are unsorted and un-categorized.
  • They are not prioritized in order of importance.
  • We believe that the small are important.  And we don’t want them to get lost.
  • We fear The Smalls will get lost.  We fear that brilliant blog post idea that just came to us will disappear, then we worry about that so long that it does disappear, or we forget other things while we spend mental energy on trying to REMEMBER EVERYTHING!
  • The Smalls DO get lost, and then we forget appointments, emergencies happen, feelings are hurt, etc.

Another regular participant in my Finish Lind Friday productivity sessions has used great imagery when we talk about what we plan to accomplish that day.

Imagine a room full of helium balloons with strings attached.

Now, gesture with your hands to collect those strings.  That is what she is often working on, on a Friday. Gathering loose ends, she calls it, with that gesture. Gathering them together.

And a coaching client, in our time working together, even created her own Loose Ends List, to collect The Smalls and all the other ideas / thoughts / tasks that occur to her and then require completion.

I want to applaud all four people that I have mentioned – they identify The Smalls, they identified the need to consistently collect The Smalls, and they have habits and ways to collect and deal with them.

Two Big Ideas this week.

In the interest of writing this article this week, I opened up my copy of “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen, thinking I needed to re-read it to write this article. And I am … proud? Relieved? Yes, those feelings and more, to find out that since I read this book many years ago, I implemented and am still doing many of the things he talks about (and he talks about them clearly and concisely and the book is totally worth the read.) And I can do better, and I will share more about this book and his process in future podcasts and articles.

First big idea, this is a great book, check it out (and I mean, actually check it out of your local library – no need to buy it!).

To get started, though, in Getting Things Done, David Allen talks about collection. How first, we need to COLLECT all the thoughts and ideas in our head and get them out of our head and into a more user friendly, time specific, prioritized form.  He mentioned, among other things, a Mind Sweep.

Others call it a Brain dump, though I find that an inelegant phrase. My friend Jen recommended Cranial Cleanse when I asked my community for a better term for Brain Dump.

Whatever we call it, Mind Sweep or Cranial cleanse, it is a great place to start.

And it requires a place to put the collected items. For me, that means my Bullet Journal first, to collect items.  Then I insert them into my master to – do list to prioritize and take action.

But let’s talk about the collecting. I no longer do a cranial cleanse like David Allen recommends, as in, an event, because it is a constant process for me – I am ALWAYS doing a cranial cleanse.

For example, when I am working or out running errands, thoughts occur to me, like an idea or a task that needs completed, and I quickly jot it down.

Because…

Have You Noticed? Another problem is that very often a thought or idea or task occurs to us at a moment when we do not have time to act on it.

This

Happens

To

Me

All

The

Time.

I have noticed that certain events generate more thoughts and ideas.  For example, when I am driving.

When driving, my brain is focused on driving but also open to outside stimuli (which is a good thing while driving), subsequently ideas often come to me while I drive.  OR while I cook, or while I’m in the shower.

This goes back to the recent podcast and newsletter that talks about If I Don’t Write It Down, It Doesn’t Exist. 

The other side of that is, If I don’t capture and collect the ideas when they occur, they continue to float around in my brain with nowhere to go, and that makes things very crowded up there with all The Smalls! 

My suggestion, then, for all of this week – the Second Big Idea – is to have a trusted place to collect the ideas and cultivate a habit of collecting them.

I love my Bullet Journal, and that will be a live webinar sometime soon to look at how to make Bullet Journaling happen for you – but the take away is that I have ONE PLACE to write things down. 

It goes with me everywhere.

It is always ready to collect the ideas and safely hold on to them. To get all The Smalls out of my brain so there is room and space to actually get some work done.

And then I have the regular daily habit of reviewing those ideas, prioritizing and activating those ideas and putting them into  my master-to-do list or on the calendar, etc.

We can’t avoid The Smalls, and really, we don’t want to.  The Smalls are where it’s at, sometimes!  The genius is in The Smalls!  But not when all of the Smalls are cramped together in our brain. 

We need the habit of moving The Smalls out of our brain and into a trusted collector. And then the habit of prioritizing and acting on them, too!  This is how we get things done.