Latest Blog Posts

10 Apps to help get your family organized

By Julie Stobbe / May 29, 2018 /

My guest blogger is Olivia Cordell from AppsGrooves

AppGrooves, just published this article on the Best Apps for Making Digital To-Do Lists which I thought would be super helpful to busy people like you! AppGrooves has one of the most comprehensive collections of app-related analytics data, and we use it to rank the top apps on the App Store in over 600 categories that we designed. We do this to save you the time and stress of figuring out which apps are best to download and use.

Best 10 To Do List Apps

AppGrooves has filtered the best 10 apps for “To Do List” in Productivity from 1,939 apps. Check it out!

1  Any.do: To-do list, Calendar, Reminders & Planner  

By Any.do

 To-do list, Calendar, Reminders & Planner ✅?? Free, and Simple. All-in-one app

Why we love this

  1. An intuitive, straightforward planner! Instantly create quick memos & organize your monthly calendar in a matter of seconds
  2. Need to buy fruit next time you visit a grocery store? Set up a smart reminder that will alert you when you reach a specific location
  3.  With the powerful Home Widget, you have your entire, neatly organized to-do list right on the home screen

2. TickTick: To Do List with Reminder, Day Planner

By Appest Inc.

How to manage time⏳, get things done ✔ and accomplish tasks! ??

Why we love this

  1. Thanks to Smart Date Parsing, adding notes via voice or type input automatically sets a reminder without you having to do anything.
  2. Smart with your productivity! Discover useful statistics that turn your working schedules into a beautiful graph.

3. To-Do List

by Splend Apps

SplenDO is a smart task list for everyday use. Truly usable, and splendid in action!

Collaborate with your friends & coworkers! Create joint task lists & effortlessly sync your mutual to-dos.

Why we love this 

  1. The ability to group tasks in neat Task Lists makes sure your to-do list stays organized no matter how many notes you add.
  2. Staying organized made easy! Quickly set up due dates, view tasks that are past due & check off completed tasks to stay efficient.
  3. In a hurry? Instantly add tasks to the Quick Task Bar whenever you need to schedule something important.

4. To Do Reminder with Alarm

By App Innovation

No stress, feel relaxed It will remind you of everything!! – Make life easier with us with an alarm
  1. Remembers everything for you! Easily add reminders, set alarms & quickly sync with Facebook or Gmail to automatically add birthdays & anniversaries
  2. Scheduled a meeting two weeks ago? Easily send reminders to other people with a single tap
  3. Stay organized even while driving! The smart Drive Mode allows you to safely handle notifications without taking your eyes off the road

5. Todoist: To-do lists for task management & errands

By Doist

Stress less about getting things done. Create your task list & accomplish more.

To-do lists for task management & errands

  1. Remove the stress with colours! Use colour-coding to easily pinpoint crucial tasks and add a little fun
  2. Adding recurring tasks is super easy! Simply type “every second Thursday” & see notes magically appear on the calendar exactly as you want
  3. The intuitive Drag&Drop feature makes organizing folders & subfolders as easy as turning on your device.

6. To-Do List, Task List

By Pocket Universe, LLC

A playful to-do list in the spirit of Eisenhower’s priority matrix

7. Wunderlist: To-Do List & Tasks

By 6 Wunderkinder GmbH

Your beautiful and simple to-do list

8. GTasks: Todo List & Task List

By Appest Inc.

Synchronize Your To Do Tasks | List with Google

9. Tasks: Astrid To-Do List Clone

By Alex Baker

Synchronize and share your task lists with CalDAV!

10. Microsoft To-Do

By Microsoft Corporation

 A simple and intelligent to-do list that keeps your day in focus.

Julie Stobbe, professional organizerJulie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

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Coaching Column 1 – Focus

By Julie Stobbe / May 22, 2018 /

Thank you for the question “How do you recommend managing mechanical “mesmerizing” tasks like data entry that can literally put me to sleep?”

I think we all have tasks that we find difficult to concentrate on and begin to daydream.  Here are a few suggestions to try, let me know if any resonate with you.

  1. Use music with or without words, this may make the setting you are working in more enjoyable and help you feel like working
  2. Do this task at a time of day when you are most productive and can focus well
  3. Break the task into smaller tasks (batches of data entry, invoicing etc) do a little each day instead of a lot all at once
  4. Add white noise to your working space so you are not distracted by other sounds that can draw your attention away from what you are doing
  5. Set a timer – agree to work until the timer goes off and then change tasks or take a break.  Do this until the task is completed.  Getting up and moving can really help to let you be able to go back to the task and concentrate again.
  6. Give yourself a reward, when it is done I can …….
  7. Change the place where you do the task, perhaps you need a cooler space, better lighting, an out of the way space, etc

I hope you find that these suggestions can help you to focus and get it done quicker.  If it takes less time because you are focused you will need to focus for less time.

Julie Stobbe, professional organizerJulie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

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4 Tips to help you start organizing your living room

By Julie Stobbe / May 15, 2018 /

Living rooms can have many purposes. 

1. Decide what your living room will be used for and create areas for each activity – watching TV, listening to music, reading, entertaining, office/desk work, or relaxing.

Determine what activities you will use the room for and then plan your space.

Determine what activities you will use the room for and then plan your space.

Lighting

2. Use task lighting as needed for each activity.  Floor lamps, table lamps, wall-mounted or ceiling lights help to make the room perfect for any task.

Make sure your lighting suits the task you want to do.

Make sure your lighting suits the task you want to do.

Choose furniture that has more than one purpose

3. Additional hidden storage can be added to the room, such as an ottoman or footstool with storage, a chest, or a coffee table with shelves or drawers.  The space behind a couch is great for storing flat items such as pictures or dining room table leaves.  Bookcases or floor-to-ceiling shelves can be used to decorate a wall and store items.

Foot stool ottoman pouffe over isolated white background

Pictures

4. Too many pictures?  Instead of trying to hang them all, rotate them each season.  It will give your walls a facelift.  Storing your pictures behind your couch is a great way to keep them handy but out of sight.

Pictures hanging on a wall

How do you store your CDs and DVDs?

Julie Stobbe, professional organizerJulie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

 TwitterFacebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

 

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Organizing a small kitchen

By Julie Stobbe / May 1, 2018 /

Reading time – 3 minutes

Thanks to Brooke Faulkner for returning to guest blog this month.

Making the most of a small kitchen

Whether you have chosen to move into a tiny home, you pay an exorbitant amount to have a closet-sized apartment in New York City, or it just so happens that your dream home has a small kitchen, you are going to have to get creative with how you use it. The kitchen has always been a place where clutter seems to gather and where storage is always an issue, no matter how big or small the space. Making some custom changes to your kitchen to adapt to your personal wants and needs will help you see your kitchen as more of a place of zen than a messy cluttered den.

Hideaways

As you start to really investigate your kitchen, you may start to recognize negative space that could be used for additional storage and further organization. Start with looking at your sink area. What is that small drawer in front of the sink that doesn’t open? What a cruel design! By removing the front of the drawer, installing a narrow pocket behind it and hinges on either side, you can make a sponge and nail brush holder that tucks right into that unused spot. This allows you to hide the unsightly sponges and remove clutter from around the water tap and gain more organizational space!

Another typically overlooked area is the space between the oven and the cabinet next to it. Usually, there is just enough space to install a spice cabinet that slides into the depth of the cabinet and when pulled out can visually display every spice you could ever want to cook with. Spices and condiments take up a silly amount of space. Another option for storage to free up counter or wall space is to install a spice rack, an absolute kitchen essential, on the inside of a cabinet or pantry door. A pantry door, if your small kitchen is lucky enough to have one, is ideal because the depth of the spice rack fits perfectly inside the door frame, not taking up any additional space once the door is closed.

Cut the Clutter

Utilizing the space available to you and recognizing when there just isn’t any left will be your best approach to removing the clutter from your kitchen. Small bits and pieces tend to collect on the surfaces of counters above anything else, making your kitchen feel even smaller. For the smaller recurring items, like notes to the family, mail, or hairpins, take advantage of the inside of the cabinet doors. With a simple strong adhesive, you can create small catch-all containers that are out of view and not taking up any additional space. You can label the small containers so that other household members know how to best use them.

Organizing what lies within the cabinet drawers will also help to cut back on the number of items in your kitchen. Take for example the storage container drawer. In the typical household it contains various sizes of mismatched plastics that are haphazardly shoved into a general area. Consider upgrading to a stackable glass container set that simply has four sizes with colour coded lids. Having one stackable entity that can easily slide in and out of the cabinet could save you time and hassle for meals on-the-go and storing leftovers.

For that clumsy pots and pans drawer, take a second to look up. If your ceiling allows for it, consider installing a hanging pots and pan rack to allow for easy access and to free up one of your cabinets for additional valuable storage space. Once they are on display, you might also recognize that it is time to update the pots and pans collection of parental hand-me-downs that you have been hanging on to since college with the best and brightest new cookware.

Mess Free

The kitchen seems to be the mecca for where dirt, food scraps and oily messes tend to build up. To alleviate less mess on the floor, opt to put your cutting board over one half of your sink. It cuts down on the amount of food scraps that end up on the floor and makes cleaning up that much faster. It reduces the wear and tear on your countertops and prevents potential staining from items such as beets and turmeric root. An added bonus is that you can use it to cover up any dishes that you didn’t happen to get done if an unexpected guest stops by for a visit.

Cooking in a small kitchen, there are areas that seem to get dirty again within a day of cleaning them. Try using natural cleaning agents to get your appliances looking like new without drowning yourself in chemicals. Using flour to scrub down those new stainless steel appliances will have them shining like new after a quick rinse. Additionally, you can use lemon juice to get rid of rust spots that may be on knives that you have on display and a bit of salt and lemon juice on your wooden cutting boards will both cleanse them and rid them of any residual food odors.

No matter how small, there is a kitchen hack for it all. Before you start to complain about your limited space, take a look around and notice what small changes you could make so your kitchen world works better for you and your needs.

What is your best kitchen hack? Share it in the comments

Julie Stobbe, professional organizerJulie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

 TwitterFacebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

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How to organize hockey gear.

By Julie Stobbe / April 24, 2018 /

My guest blogger this week is from ProStock Hockey.  It can be difficult to keep hockey equipment organized, dry and clean.  Do you want your child putting on equipment that was stored in a moldy hockey bag?  Imagine having 15 hockey bags in a small room containing equipment that is not taken care of properly.

Click arrows in the bottom right corner to expand full screen

Infographic created by Pro Stock Hockey, an online hockey shop offering pro stock hockey equipment

Post your best tip for organizing your sports equipment in the comments. 

Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

TwitterFacebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

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Top tips for a less stressful move

By Julie Stobbe / March 20, 2018 /

My guest blogger this week is Brooke Faulkner.  She is a mom and writer in the Pacific Northwest. When she’s not wrangling her own kids, she’s writing tips to help other families do the same. You can see more of her writing on Twitter, @faulknercreek.  Brooke thanks for sharing your expertise.

As you probably have already experienced, packing and moving to a new location — whether across town or across the country — rank right up there as the the least desirable tasks to tackle in life.

Research has even shown that moving is MORE stressful than a divorce or starting a new job. In a poll of 2,000 adults who have moved in the past three years, almost two in three (61 percent) placed moving at the top of their stress list.Research has even shown that moving is MORE stressful than a divorce or starting a new job. In a poll of 2,000 adults who have moved in the past three years, almost two in three (61 percent) placed moving at the top of their stress list. Share on X

Meanwhile, a crumbling relationship, divorce and a new job were ranked second, with less than half (42 percent) voting those life events as the most stressful.

Fortunately, there are many ways to lessen the burden of packing up your life and starting a new chapter. It can even be an opportunity to take charge and move like a boss.

And once you’re done with the big move, you can slowly unpack your belongings, breathe a sigh of relief, and enjoy your new space.

Here are a few things you can do to make the process easier along the way:

To-Do Lists Are Your Friend

There are so many things to keep track of as you work your way through the transition from the old place to the new house. Create a plan of attack by making a to-do list. It can be organized on a week-by-week basis to make it more manageable and less intimidating as the moving date approaches.

Prioritize all of the important tasks first along with the associated deadlines for each.

You don’t have to make a list of tasks out of thin air. There are many handy moving checklists available to use as a guideline. A good moving checklist includes around-the-house and preparatory tasks like scheduling connections of utilities at the new house, disconnecting utilities at the old place, filing a change of address form with the post office, arranging for cleaning services, reserving a moving truck, and collecting moving and storage boxes, to name a few.

An Opportunity to Downsize

Before you even start packing, you’ll want to get rid of any clutter or unwanted items. This will help you feel more organized from the outset because you’ll only be packing up the things you need or want to take with you.

In a previous Mind Over Clutter blog post, we recommended a book called “Don’t Toss My Memories in the Trash” designed to help loved ones move, complete with practical steps and suggestions for downsizing without sacrificing treasured memories. For many people, giving up the family home is comparable to losing a loved one.

At the same time, it’s a pretty freeing feeling to downsize, donate items, and clear out the old to make way for the new. Otherwise, it can be frustrating to pack stuff you’re going to get rid of anyway after the move. Give yourself plenty of time to do what needs to be done in order to have a successful move.

Prepare Your Mind

Get ready for the possibility of anxiety that comes with living among boxes and in chaos for a while. Don’t let the stress cause you to procrastinate on the items on your moving checklist.

People in general have the tendency to procrastinate. Think of it like packing for a vacation. What happens when you delay packing until the very last minute before you leave? You inevitably forget something you might need or want on your trip.

It’s natural to avoid things you don’t want to do, but uprooting your life is a big deal and deserves your full attention. Even after you’ve done the work, there’s always still more to be done. But it will get done. You got this.

It may take a while to make the space your own. That’s to be expected. You don’t have to do it all in one week. Give yourself and your family time to settle into the new environment.

Organize Your Belongings

You’ve likely moved before and found yourself frantically looking for something specific only to find you didn’t pack the item in a box with similar items. When you start shoving things within reach into boxes, you set yourself up for chaos.

It seems like a no-brainer, but mixing and matching kitchen supplies with bedroom supplies, for example, isn’t the most effective way to pack. Socks and spoons don’t go together. Organizing your belongings into categories is a relatively simple step.

Labelling each box with its contents with a sharpie is a good way to go. You’ll have more than one box of kitchen supplies, so when writing on top of the box, make sure to write what’s in the box. Simply writing “kitchen” on each box isn’t very helpful. Writing the specific contents under the kitchen category will not only make it easier for you but the movers as well.

There are many ways to downgrade the stress levels you may experience during the moving process. You may even look back and think, “Hey, that wasn’t so bad.” Pat yourself on the back, enjoy the moment and, of course, your new home!

Share with us where you donate the items you don’t need anymore. 

Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

 Twitter   Facebook   Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

 

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Happy St Patrick’s Day

By Julie Stobbe / March 13, 2018 /

Facts about St Patrick’s Day 

Shamrock

Shamrock

1. Irish immigrants coming to North America started St Patrick’s Day parades to honour their nationality.

2. The first parade took place in Boston in 1737 followed by New York in 1762.

3. Ireland held their first parade in 1931

4. St Patrick’s Day always fell during Lent, when all the pubs were closed

5. The original colour associated with St Patrick is blue but because shamrocks and leprechauns are green, St Patrick’s Day adopted the colour green.

 

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Need help organizing your holiday decorations Contact Julie@mindoverclutter.ca  

Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

TwitterFacebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

 

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Organizing to better manage your time and stress

By Julie Stobbe / February 20, 2018 /
Is your plate too full?

Do have more on your plate than you can handle?

April Miller of April Miller Professional Organizing once described life as having a plate of food.  Even when it is full we keep putting more food on top.

Let’s think about stress, do you

  • feel overwhelmed by not being able to shut your mind down
  • feel anxious that there is too much to handle
  • feel frustrated because you don’t have control

Think about how you feel in different situations and why you feel that way.  Once you can determine what problems cause your feelings of stress you can start to solve them.

Balance Wheel

Clare Kumar of Streamlife Ltd. has developed a Lifetime Management Wheel.  She has divided time into 6 areas:

  • Play
  • Purpose – work and volunteering
  • Health – mental physical and spiritual
  • Lifestyle
  • Relationships
  • Development – personal growth and learning

She says to “note your level of satisfaction with each area of your life by giving it a rating of 1 to 10 with 10 being your ideal.”

Now you can see which areas of your life need some attention.  You can tie some of your feelings of stress to certain areas of your life.

Productivity – another way of managing your time

1. Take care of yourself

If you are healthy and happy you will be more motivated and productive. I walk each morning for an hour.  It allows me to start the day with no questions or demands on my time.  I get physical activity and time to reflect.  I can start my day ready for action, whatever that may be.  What do you do the take care of yourself?

If you are healthy and happy you will be more motivated and productive Share on X

2. Establish repeatable routines and systems.

This helps you to automate things that need to be completed so they become a habit.  I have a “networking bag”.  It has everything I need for going to business meetings, business cards, brochures, marketing material, notepads, pens, and cash. I can leave the office quickly for meetings not forgetting anything and not spending a lot of time looking for items I need to take.  I have a two month meal plan.  I know what groceries I need for the week and what is being cooked for supper.  Then I repeat the plan 6 times, that is a year.  You only have to eat any one item 6 times in 365 days.    Routines and systems will help you to feel in control and have less on your mind reducing your stress.

3. Slow down to become more productive.

About 5% of the population can multitask successfully. Multitasking slows down your productivity because moving from unfinished task to unfinished task means you need to look back to see where you left off on the previous task and where to start on the new task and all those seconds add up to minutes making you less productive. Finish one task completely and then move on to the next.  There is relief and satisfaction in completing a task reducing anxiety and stress. You also need time to think and reflect on the work you are doing so you can be more intentional and less reactive. You’re in control and less overwhelmed.

4. Work with your personality not against it.

Discover where you are most productive.  It might be in different spaces for different tasks.  When I write I like to be in the kitchen. What time of day do you work best? Do you like it quiet or prefer to have some background noise? There are articles that suggest that if you are trying to brainstorm ideas you have to leave your office and that physical activity helps in brainstorming activities. I have found that 90-15-90-30-90 works for me.  I concentrate on one task for 90 minutes and then do something completely different for 15 minutes.  Then 90 minutes for working on the same task or a new one and 30 minutes doing something completely different and then a 90 minute work session.  Don’t cheat on the breaks.  The breaks help you to remain energized and focused throughout the day.

Fill your plate with only as much as you can bite off and chew.  Enjoy each morsel and spend time ruminating over the experience.  Reflect on what you are doing and what you could be doing more productively.

Send me your tip for increasing your productivity

Julie Stobbe, professional organizerJulie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.

 TwitterFacebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

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Organize Your Valentine’s Gift

By Julie Stobbe / February 10, 2018 /

What do you have planned for Valentine’s Day?

Looking for that perfect clutter free Valentine’s Day Gift?  One that says:

  • I understand you,
  • I want you to be happy,
  • I want to make your life easier

 

Great Valentine's Ideas

Let’s get organized

Contact Julie if you need help making this happen or buy a gift certificate.

Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

TwitterFacebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space

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Top 10 productivity time killers

By Julie Stobbe / January 10, 2018 /

Carolyn Shannon is my guest blogger today.  Her business Venting Creatively helps people to find creative ways to shine a light on their life from a different view.  She publishes a magazine called Women of Worth magazine.

Being productive leaves time for the things that are important to you

Top 10 Productivity Time Killers

Every day countless hours are wasted away due to non-productive activities. Time is money, so when distractions and procrastination set in profitability will decline. A survey conducted by OfficeTime.net has revealed 10 of the biggest time killers. The main offenders that reduce our productivity are:

1. Emails

2. Surfing the net

3. Watching TV

4. Procrastination

5. Meetings

6. Non-business conversations

7. Commuting & travel time

8. Social networking

9. Cell Phones & texting

10. Dealing with red tape

Types of Time Wasting

There are many factors that lead to procrastination. There are a few broad categories that most time wasting falls into.

1. Indecision.

Perfectionists will often struggle with indecision. Some things may never become perfect, and putting too much focus on perfection will mean too much time spent on one job. Splitting the work into smaller tasks is one way to deal with it more effectively.

2. Avoidance.

Fear of being judged can be the main cause of procrastination. It could be fear of failure or even success. Neither of these is something to be ashamed of. Success should be celebrated, and failure is the best way of learning. Think less about what others may think and more about trying your best at the task at hand.

3. Thrill Seeking.

This is when procrastination is justified because the worker likes the thrill of an approaching deadline. If this is the case it is best to move deadlines closer and set personal targets. This still gets you the thrill of working against the clock, while reducing procrastination.

How to Put an End to Time Killers

The first step to battling time killers is to understand and appreciate the amount of time that is being wasted. What is the value of all that lost time? Time wasters will directly affect your career advancement opportunities and reduce the amount of income you could have received. Tracking where your time is spent will allow for efficient time management. Don’t just rely on your memory to remember what you did during the day. Use a system so that you have a written record that can be looked over and analyzed. This could be as simple as creating a timetable on a piece of paper or utilizing a computer program or app to record your daily activities. Cutting down on time killers is a good start, but there are other strategies that should be used to effectively manage your time:

1. Define your purpose.

You need to know exactly what you want when starting a task. Without a definite purpose, you will lose focus.

2. Smart goal setting.

Choose realistic and specific goals and targets. It should be measurable so you know when it has been completed.

3. Plan on a regular basis.

As factors change, your plan should be adjusted to reflect the reality of the situation.

To truly beat time killers you need to work on your mindset & stick to your plan for the long term.

Which type of Time Waster Are You?

1. Thrill Seekers

They feel they can procrastinate, as they enjoy the feeling of working against a deadline

Tip: constantly set and adjust deadlines so that you still get the adrenaline rush but are using your time more effectively than procrastinating

2. Avoiders

They prefer to procrastinate as a means to avoid being judged. Whether it is a success or a failure

Tip: Success is a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of. Failure is a way to learn and improve. Focus on doing the best job you can and not on what others think.

3. Indecisive people

They are often perfectionists but procrastinate to shift responsibility from themselves

Tip: Not everything has to be perfect so try to take small risks and use your intuition. Mistakes may mean you learn something new. Try to split the task up into more manageable parts.

Need help setting new patterns and mindsets this year contact me.  I can work with you virtually to help you become more productive and have time for the things that are important to you. 

Julie Stobbe, professional organizerJulie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.

Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca

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