Time Management
Getting over procrastination takes action. Of course that is easier said than done. Today I’m going to share a simple three-step process with you that will help you get started and get more done than you ever thought possible.
Set a goal
It all starts with a goal. You have to know what it is you want to accomplish. If you don’t know what your goal is, it’s hard to know what you should be doing first or what you should be doing right now to move in the right direction. So what do we do instead? Anything other than the work we know needs to get done.
Your goal is simply to put what you know you need to get done into words. A good goal has defined parameters and a set deadline. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s a simple goal we all strive to accomplish. We have to file our taxes by a specific date. You have a pretty good idea of what paperwork you need, what forms you need to fill out, and where you need to turn them in. You also know what your deadline is. In other words, you have a well-defined goal when it comes to filing your income taxes. And yes, I realized most of us still procrastinate when it comes to this particular task. That’s why the remaining steps are just as important as the first one. For now, I want you to think about one thing you need to get done and turn it into a goal.
Write it down
Write it down. I don’t care if you find a random scrap of paper, use your favourite notebook, or type a note to yourself on your phone. The important part is that you put your goal into writing. This does two things. First of all, it helps you clarify what your goal is. You have to get pretty specific when you try to put what you want or need to do into words. Secondly, writing it down gives you something to look back on. It serves as a reminder and as a tool that you can use when you are tempted to procrastinate.
Set an appointment with yourself
Last but not least, it’s time to get started. That’s often the hardest part, isn’t it? You’re tempted to skip your workout until you lace up your shoes and get started. Once you’re off and running, it’s much easier to keep going. Once you have your goal written down, think about something you can do right now to move you in the right direction. Go do that. Then come back and do something else. Each morning, start by looking at your goal and challenge yourself to take action. Before you know it, you will have made some serious progress. And you’re starting to beat procrastination.
A three-step process to stop procrastinating: set a goal, write it down, schedule time. You can do it Share on X
Need help setting goals? Book a 30-minute complimentary virtual appointment and let me help you get started.
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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
With many people working from home, it is important to have time when you’re not interrupted. Make sure to have a sign or signal that indicates you are unavailable.
Many people realize that multitasking is not the best way to get work completed. However, they experience many small interruptions in their day, e-mail, texting and phone calls that take away from concentrating on a project.
These small tasks, added together, use up your work day.
“Drive by” conversations, when colleagues stop by your desk, stop you in the hall or a family member bursts into your office and gives you information also take time away from completing important tasks. As well the information may be forgotten or lost.
Being interrupted by colleagues stopping to chat can cost you a lot of valuable time.
Some offices have designated a specific time of the day for working on projects. It is an interruption-free time to concentrate on work during which employees can’t send or answer emails, texts, phone calls, attend meetings, etc. Each office is different so the designated time may be office-wide or scheduled into each person’s work day, week, or month individually. It is important that this time and format are respected by your colleagues, family and supported by management. You may be surprised how much you can get done in one hour without interruptions and your full concentration on one task at a time.
How do you plan on scheduling interruption free time? Let me know 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Scheduling helps you to use your time in blocks and avoid scattering single tasks throughout the day leaving small segments of unproductive time.
My tip for parents running their businesses from home is about time management.
Running a business and organizing a household is a complex task. Time management is the key to success and sanity. Scheduling everything will help:
- tasks to get completed,
- commitments to be honoured
- and make arriving on time possible
However, scheduling everything can be overwhelming initially. Start by using only one calendar, paper or electronic, for all the activities in your schedule. Try a “clearing your mind” task. This involves writing down everything you have to do. Record one task per line on your paper or one task per entry until you have everything recorded. Including, exercise, work appointments, social commitments, bill payments, household tasks, children’s commitments, social media, doctor appointments, marketing, networking, a trip to the park, birthday parties etc. After you have them recorded, go back to the top of your list and write the date and time (schedule) when you will complete the task. Put all of these dates on your calendar remember to include travel time when you schedule tasks. As you look at your calendar you will be able to determine how much time you have each day, month and year available for the activities that are important to your life, family and business. It will help to put time into perspective and help determine why you might be feeling:
- overwhelmed
- overworked
- bored
- tired
- successful
- energized
- excited
- frustrated
Once you start to schedule everything, it will become easier because many of the entries will be recurring each day, week, month or year. They will be in your calendar and only new items will need to be added to your schedule. This will provide a structure that you can rely on to help you with the complex task of running a business and organizing a household.
If you need help with time management book a series of mini organizing sessions with me.
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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time 10 minutes
Multitasking is a myth. The brain can’t complete 2 high-level tasks at the same time states Chris Adams, in “Can People Really Multitask?” So what are we really doing when we work on 2 things at the same time?
Task layering
People believe they can multi-task because the body can do a physical activity and a cognitive activity at the same time. So people are able to walk and talk, run and listen to a book etc. The new term I have heard for this is task layering. We certainly can do task layering, don’t get it confused with multitasking. Task “layering” is defined as strategically deciding to do tasks that require different “channels” of mental functioning such as visual, auditory, manual or language. Read more about task laying that actually works in this article
Multitasking
The brain does not do two cognitive tasks at the same time. The brain switches between tasks, very quickly. Every time the brain switches tasks it must determine how much of the task has been completed and what the next step would be and then continue with the task. This time contributes to the slowing down of completing the two tasks. If the brain works on one task at a time it completes it without delay. Try it, put an article in front of you and something to write. Do them both at the same time and record how long it takes you to get the two tasks done. You will notice that you will keep going over the material to see where you left off as your concentration shifts between the tasks. Next, do each task separately and time how long it takes to complete both tasks.
How to stop multitasking
In order to stop multitasking, plan your work schedule and remove the distraction of other work, e-mails, tweeting, phone calls, television, music etc. Your work schedule may have lots of shifts in tasks. Some people like to schedule a 60 -90 minute work session and then change tasks. Other people may schedule 30-minute sessions and change tasks. What works for you? Some people need to have music or white noise on to help them concentrate and block out distractions. Other people find music distracting. What helps you to keep your focus on one task at a time?
What do you think? Is multitasking productive?
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 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 3 minutes
In Harold Taylor’s newsletter www.taylorintime.com , May 2014, he talked about Organizing your Mind to create the life you want. His advice is still true today. Getting your mind in the right place so you can concentrate on the things that bring you joy, fulfillment and contentment will help you create that life that brings out the best part of you.
By Harold Taylor
Organize your mind than your desk or house
It’s more important to organize your mind than your desk or house. You can always walk away from your desk or house, but you can never walk away from your mind. We must first accept the fact that time is not life, as many of us in the past may have suggested; it is merely the medium through which life passes. And life, as you experience it, is not something that happens to you, but something that happens because of you. You create the life you will experience – good, bad or indifferent – by what you believe, how you think, and what you do.
Mind-clearing session
To create the life that you want, you must first organize your mind. And you do this by clearing it of all the worldly clutter that keeps it preoccupied and constantly distracted. One way of doing this is to engage in a 15 or 20-minute mind-clearing session each morning after you get up and are fully dressed. Don’t do it while you are still in bed and half asleep. This is too important. It will determine how the rest of the day goes. And life takes place in a series of days.
Complete your morning ritual of breakfast, getting the kids off to school, putting out the garbage or whatever your morning routine entails. Then sit comfortably in your favourite chair, and without trying to rid your mind of the random thoughts that will invariably invade it, do the following six things in succession.
6 Steps
- Relax, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and just be aware of the miracle that is you.
- Give thanks for all that you have and have had in the past. Don’t rack your brain trying to think of everything – just those that come to mind quickly.
- Forgive anyone who has hurt or offended you.
- Offer up ten-second prayers, blessings or good wishes for at least three other people each day.
- Think positive thoughts about all your future plans, opportunities and endeavours,
- Decide and confirm how you will spend the next hour of your life. This may already be scheduled in your planner or you may choose something different.
The reason for doing these six things will be explained in the next article in this series on holistic time management. But the reason will probably become clear to you as you progress through each day.
Whether you call this session meditation, mindfulness, or “being in the now” is immaterial. What is important is that you continue to do it each day, modifying it as you go along, until it becomes your unique morning routine. And how you spend the next hour of each day will eventually create the life that you will lead.
Organize your mind than your office or home. Harold Taylor Share on XI think there are some great suggestions to help you focus on the life you want to create. Is anything missing? Let me know 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 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Time – 5 minute
In 2020 technology become a communication lifeline. It was used for education, business, family communications, school and social events. It became the most important method of communication and entertainment. Zoom took over life. Will this be a difficult habit to change? Do you want to reduce your reliance on technology? Did technology get you the results you wanted for your life? The ideas and thoughts in this 2014 article by Harold Taylor still hold true for 2021. How are you going to manage your technology going forward?
By Harold Taylor
Harold Taylor is a time management expert. He has published over 17 books and presented over 2000 seminars.
An online poll of over 1000 Canadian adults released last Saturday by Angus Reid/Vision Critical (Toronto Star, January 26, 2013) revealed that 90% of the respondents believed their smartphones made their lives more convenient. So convenient, evidently, that 30% of them went online before getting out of bed, 31% at the dinner table, 29% in the washroom and 42% before falling asleep at night,
Smartphones may be smart, but they lack intelligence. Why are we so willing to be at the beck and call of an idiot? The Internet leads anywhere, which for the undisciplined means nowhere. Why browse away the hours? Email, computer games and social media are endless, but our time is not. Why do we behave as though we will live forever?
Smartphones may be smart, but lack intelligence. Harold Taylor Share on XResearch shows that the Internet and digital technology can have a negative impact on our ability to learn, focus, pay attention, memorize and relate to others on a personal basis. It also gobbles up our time, encourages busyness and multitasking and stifles creativity.
The futures of our business, personal lives, and our nations do not depend on the development of technology, but on our ability to manage the technology we develop.
Technology is important, it can’t be avoided, you’re reading this blog, lol.
Comment on how will you change your use of technology.
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 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
The 80/20 rule can be applied in many situations and states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. It is also known as the Pareto Principle. The principle has been named after Vilfredo Pareto—an Italian economist—who, in 1895, noticed that about 80% of Italy’s land belonged to 20% of the country’s population. Maciej Duszyński states in his article Pareto Principle & the 80/20 Rule, “Pareto’s principle is more of an observation than a full-fledged scientific theory. It is commonly noticeable in a variety of contexts—but it’s not applicable to each and every scenario. Plus, the numbers 80 and 20 should not be added up to 100. The fact it’s called the 80/20 rule is simply a catchy, historical catchphrase.” As an organizer, the 80/20 helps people to easily, and subjectively analyze what they use the most, how they spend their time and how to manage their projects.
Possessions
Many times Professional Organizers will talk to clients about the 80/20 rule. I will say, you use 20% of your stuff, 80% of the time. This means most of your stuff (80%) is not used very often. Think about your clothing. Do you have some outfits you wear a lot? You love how they look, feel and you get a lot of compliments. If you apply the 80/20 rule you can let go of 80% of your clothing because you don’t wear them very often. Think about your other possessions. Do you have DVDs, books, jewelry, tools, toys and dishes filling your closets and cupboards? Let go of the 80% that you almost never use. Organize, enjoy and respect the 20% that you use frequently.
Time Management
Once you realize that 80% of your outcomes come from 20% of the time and effort you spend on them, the importance of prioritizing becomes obvious. If you have a To-Do List, prioritize the top 2 items (20%) and complete them first. Although the other items, of less importance, might not be completed the ones you did complete will have a big impact (80%) on your accomplishments. Don’t neglect the other tasks. Move on to doing them once you clear the big ones. You can delegate the other tasks. The 80/20 rule will help you to use your time efficiently.
Projects
It is important to understand when a project is finished. The first 20% of the time you spend on a project will get you to 80% finished. Trying to get the final small amount completed perfectly may not be a good use of your time. When you have 80% of your project perfected should you move on and publish it, institute the changes or present it for discussion? I have a saying on my bulletin board that says, “good enough” + “published” is 1000 times more valuable than “perfect” + “not quite ready yet”. I have seen weeks, months and years spent focusing on making the last 20% perfect. It can be a stumbling block to your success if it allows you to procrastinate and lets you hide behind the fear of accomplishing a new challenge. The feedback you receive on your project will be more valuable in perfecting your work than you spending more time on it.
Paper
An organizer, Linda Samuels reminded me that the 80/20 rule can help you with your filing. She says, “Applying the rule to papers is a good one too. We only retrieve 20% of the papers we file. And since most people (other than organizers) dislike filing, it’s a good thing to keep in mind. Perhaps recycling rather than filing is a better option for that other 80%.” You usually keep more paper than you need and that makes it difficult to find the 20% that is important in our files. This is true for emails also.
Kevin Kruse states in his article in Forbes, “No matter what your situation, it’s important to remember that there are only so many minutes in an hour, hours in a day, and days in a week. Pareto can help you to see this is a good thing; otherwise, you’d be a slave to a never-ending list of things to do.”
What 20% of your effort gives you 80% of your satisfaction?
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 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Do you spend valuable time making a to-do list and it doesn’t seem to help you get anything done? Does that list keep getting longer and longer? There are many ways to keep track of tasks you need to complete. Bullet Journaling, apps, notebooks, lists or recording a list on your phone. No matter how you record your list here are some tips to help you become more productive.
11 To-Do List Tips
These suggestions are from “Don’t Agonize, Organize Your Office” by Diane A. Hatcher.
- Make an Action list, Today’s Goals list or give it a title that motivates you.
- Make a tomorrow’s list before you finish your day throw out the old list and start fresh daily.
- Lists help you to focus and this increases productivity.
- For lists or calendars to help you be more productive you need to use them consistently.
- Write down anything on your list you don’t want to forget and cross off items as they are completed to help you achieve a sense of satisfaction.
- If a list is longer than 10 items focus on priorities and meeting due dates.
- Record individual tasks on your list, not projects.
- Look at the list often and keep it visible in the same location every day.
- Double the amount of time you think each task will take to prevent over scheduling.
- Use one calendar to record all your appointments, due dates and deadlines. Refer to the calendar when you prepare the action list for the next day.
- Prioritize by time blocks. Choose tasks off your list that can be accomplished in the time you have at hand. Also, consider your energy level when you are selecting the task to complete.
Kanban System
What happens if your list has more than 10 items and you’re afraid you will forget something if it is not on the list? There is a Japanese system called Kanban. This is a good system for visual people and for projects.
- Place your list of items you don’t want to forget about in the To-Do column
- You pick 3 tasks you will be working on at any one time and move them to the doing column.
- You can only add a task from the To-Do column to the Doing column when you complete one.
- Using Post-its on a whiteboard, arrange in columns: “To-Do”, “Doing”, and “Done”. There should never be more than three notes in “Doing”.
- You can add a “Waiting” column if you are waiting for other people to send you information.
Let me give you an example. During the pandemic when my area has a stay at home order, and lockdown, I work on my new online course, Create an Organized Home. At the beginning of the project, all of these items were in the To-Do column, I picked items to work on and moved them to the Doing column and as they are completed they are moved to the Done column. The nice thing about the Done column is I can check and see if I missed something and put it in my To-Do Column.
To-Do Doing Done
Update my website Proofread the material Learn to write a course
Market my course Check settings Write the course
Add SEO to each page Find the best software
Determine price Put course on software
Release course Make videos
Your To-Do column is a holding area for all those things you need to get done not just related to one project as in my example. The Doing column is the high priority items to work on that day. The Done column lets you know you are meeting your deadlines and gives you a sense of accomplishment. Using this system you don’t need to keep rewriting your list. Move the Post-it note from one column to the next.
However, you structure your list you can only do a small number of tasks at once. Whether it is a list on paper, a digital list, a journal or post-it notes, set your priorities for the day, work on them first so you don’t get distracted by less important tasks and refer to your list frequently.
Let me know in the comments how you structure your To-Do lists.
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 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 5 minutes
I believe that having routines helps you to accomplish things using less energy. It automates chores and tasks that need to be done regularly to keep an office or home organized. If only one person knows the routines for all the tasks that person will get burnt out doing all the work. Delegating the work is the key. How do you delegate work that is in someone’s mind?
Checklists
Checklists can be used for many reasons.
- to make a process repeatable
- to clarify a task for another person
- to schedule tasks to be completed at regular intervals
- to reduce what you need to remember
Reproducible
I have many tasks that I do infrequently or that I am learning. I set up a checklist with all the steps I need to do so I don’t forget one. The checklist takes the stress out of completing the task. I don’t need to figure out how to do it each time. The checklist will be refined after each use when I realize I left out a step or I have found an easier way to do it.
Some examples are:
Collecting income tax records:
- material needs to be gathered from several institutions,
- forms need to be filed,
- receipts need to be organized,
- copies made
- information needs to upload to a portal
Setting up meetings:
- agendas prepared
- reports requested to be compiled/ submitted ahead of time for the meeting
- meeting notice was sent with the current date, time, location and attachments
- set-up meeting room in-person or virtual
- take meeting minutes
- meeting minutes sent out to attendees
- follow up on items to be completed by participants
Social media posting
- make a list of hyperlinks to social media sites so I don’t need to look them up each time
- record steps on how to post to each site until it becomes easy
- record the date when something was posted
- record the topic that was posted so it is not posted twice
If you need help with this task book a virtual session with me and we can set up your social media posting checklist.
Clarity
How many times have you asked someone to do something and you come back and you are shocked by what they did or didn’t do? Checklists clarify what needs to be done in order to call the task completed. It allows you to delegate work.
Some examples are:
Clean your room – this means something different to each person
- Take the sheets and pillowcases off the bed and put them in the laundry
- Put on clean sheets and pillowcases
- Pick up everything off the floor and put it away
- Dust everything( list the items)
- Vacuum the floor, closet and under the bed
- Empty the garbage can into ……
Filing
- place documents in designated box for filing
- recycle advertising
- shred unimportant documents with personal information on them
- sort the pile alphabetically or by date or category
- file placing new documents in the front, header to the left
Planning an event for your family or at work
- set date, time and place
- send out notice/invitation with date, time, directions, need to know information, RSVP
- start to build a purchasing list
- decide on food and drink- quantities, order or prepare on site
- set up the room – seating, decorations, pens, paper
- clean the location
- have a place for coats
- plan activity- ice breakers, games,
- purchase/shop for items for the event
- set up a timetable for the event
- reminder notice
- post signs showing where to go, the name of the event Developing a checklist is a good way to think through all the steps in a task. Share on X
Avoid mistakes, frustration and embarrassment
Checklists are great for things you do from memory to confirm you have not missed anything. Memory is fallible, especially the busier you get. If you have a checklist you won’t forget to make sure you have enough handouts for your meeting, you have defrosted the meat for supper, you have your passport etc. Sometimes I have a mental checklist I run through before leaving the house, a written checklist is better
How to write a good checklist
In his book, Gawande said a good checklist contains only five to nine items and fits on one page. You might not get your checklist right the first time, so practice using it in the real world, and then refine it as needed.
Checklists can improve performance, help you be more consistent, reduce anxiety and errors. If something you are doing and is hard, complicated, never seems to go right or needs to be delegated try making a checklist for that task. It is a good way to think through all the steps in a task. It only works if you use it before you begin your task.
Need help making a checklist book a 30-minute complimentary virtual organizing appointment. https://mindoverclutter.as.me/virtualorganizingassessment
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. 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
It’s hard to believe but we are coming to the end of our seventh blog to get off your butt and finally beat procrastination. I hope you’ve been following along and more importantly that you’ve been making progress on at least one of the things you’ve been procrastinating on. We end today with the most critical advice and the main lesson I want you to take away from all this.
Make progress every single day!
Of course, that’s easier said than done. That’s why I’m leaving you today with three simple hacks or strategies to help you. Give them a try and see if you can’t get into the habit of being productive every day instead of procrastinating.
Plan For It
It’s easy to make progress every day when you know exactly what you should be working on next. Make a plan and then decide what you will do each day of the week. Write it down in a planner and adjust daily as needed. In the morning, you can see at a glance what it is you should be doing. Then get to work on it first thing before the day gets away from you. I find it helpful to have my planner sitting right in front of me at my desk, keeping me on track.
Don’t Break The Chain
There’s something to be said about a chain or a streak. Record every day you don’t procrastinate on something. You can mark it on a monthly calendar, or create a chain of sticky notes, stickers, or even one of those paper chains you used to make in school. The goal is simple. Don’t break the chain. Once you have a few days under your belt, you’ll be motivated to go the extra mile and do that one thing you need to do to avoid breaking the streak.
Check In With Yourself
As you progress on the things you know you need to be doing, you should feel your anxiety reduced. Instead, you will feel your confidence go up. Don’t be surprised to feel proud of your accomplishments. Instead, use those feelings to propel you forward to more procrastination free days. Procrastination is a habit. It’s something you learned to do, which means it’s something you can unlearn. Stick with it, make progress every day, and enjoy those feelings of accomplishment.
Make progress every day, and enjoy those feelings of accomplishment. Share on XJulie 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. 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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