Time Management
Do you feel like you have too many tabs open in your brain?
Image by Jason-Salmon
Psychologists have described flow as an ecstatic feeling, being totally engaged with an activity you enjoy. Good productivity habits minimize interruptions in flow.
The average American uses up to 3 mobile devices daily. The untethering of people to these devices has made productivity shoot up. Multitasking slows down your productivity because moving from unfinished task to unfinished task means every time, you need to look back to see where you left off and where to start and all those seconds add up to minutes decreasing your productivity by up to 40%.
Only about 2% of people can successfully multi-task Share on XSlow down to be more productive
People also need time to think and reflect on their work so they can be more intentional and less reactive.
Sometimes, task switching is unavoidable – an important phone call at work or children hurting themselves at home. Whenever it’s possible, try to limit distractions and block out time to work on a specific task, and only that task.
Multi-tasking is seen as a badge of honour but really, it slows down everything and creates open loops in the day. Reteaching yourselves and your children how to focus on one thing at a time is going to be the single most critical skill for the next few decades. When focus remains on a single task, it can be completed, producing a sense of accomplishment and confidence.
Physical vs mental multi-tasking
Brain research indicates that you can have several motor programs running at the same time. (Your Creative Brain ) So you can steer your car, talk to passengers and adjust your rearview mirror simultaneously. Unfortunately, you can only focus your conscious mental attention on one of these things at a time. You can multitask physically, but not mentally. We think sequentially so we should work sequentially.
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Don’t ditch your desk calendar: The benefits of handwriting events and tasks
My guest blogger this week is Jessica Pyykkonen.
Even with hundreds of available apps to help organize your life, a paper desk calendar may be just what you need to stay on top of your work schedule. Despite dire predictions, desk calendars are thriving in the digital age. Furthermore, desk calendars may even be gaining some ground. Between 2014 and 2016, the sales of calendars jumped 8 percent and the sales of planners grew 10 percent.
Why are people sticking with or rediscovering paper? As organizational guru David Allen says, “There’s still no tool better than a paper planner.” Scheduling with pen and paper even offers some advantages over digital calendars. Keep reading to learn about the benefits of analog scheduling and discover tips to improve your desk calendar.
The brain-hand connection
Typing and handwriting may seem similar, but our brains handle the two activities differently. Because handwriting requires you to make sequential strokes to form each letter, it activates large regions of the brain involved in thinking, language, and working memory. The same is not true for typing a letter on a keyboard.
In one study, pre-literate children were split into groups and taught how to draw letters by hand, trace letters, or type letters on a keyboard. Later they looked at the same letters while their brains were scanned in a functional MRI machine. Networks of the brain known to support successful reading activated in the students who’d written the letters, but not in the students who’d typed or traced.
The benefits of handwriting are also evident later in life. Older students comprehend lectures better when taking notes by hand rather than on a laptop. Moreover, adults are better able to learn a new alphabet when they practice letters by hand rather than on a computer.
What does this research on the brain-hand connection mean for your work calendar? You may remember your appointments better if you write them down on paper rather than typing them.
You could even think of jotting down tasks and appointments as exercise for your brain. “One of the advantages of moving away from the keyboard and doing something that requires greater flexibility in how we use our hands is that it also requires greater flexibility in how we use our brains,” writes Nancy Darling, a psychology professor at Oberlin College.
A desk calendar also provides a place to doodle. Scribbling idly may seem like a waste of time, but it’s a powerful way to improve concentration during boring tasks. In one study, people who were randomly assigned to doodle during an intentionally dull phone call remembered 29 percent more of the information transmitted on the call afterward. Doodling also quickly calms the mind, and most people find it enjoyable.
Dash digital fatigue
Of course, using a paper planner or calendar offers a way to step away from screens during your busy work day. If you feel like you spend too much time on mobile devices and are drowning in notifications and alerts, you’re not alone.
Devices are designed to be addictive. Our brains secrete the feel-good chemical dopamine when we hear a notification, and we experience real symptoms of anxiety if we can’t respond. American adults spend nearly 11 hours per day staring at screens, and iPhone users unlock their phones up to 80 times a day.
You may be suffering from spending too much time on technology without realizing it. The more time teens spend online, the more likely they are to say they’re unhappy. Adults randomly assigned to give up Facebook for a week ended up happier, less lonely, and less depressed at the end of the week than those who used Facebook.
Former tech employees are even raising an alarm about the negative impacts of the technology they helped create. A group of them started an organization called Center for Humane Technology; they feel too much technology erodes mental health and social relationships. Stepping away from your laptop and phone to schedule on paper is one way to decrease your time on digital devices at work.
Plan and personalize
Using a desk calendar may help with big-picture planning and organization because it’s easy to see all your appointments at a glance. Many people prefer the tangible feeling of paper. For instance, 92 percent of college students prefer to read print books versus reading on a digital device.
Furthermore, whether you love minimalist, elegant, or cute desk calendars, your calendar becomes as unique as you are once you put pen to paper. Personalize it exactly how you want and don’t be afraid to transform it into an efficient, artistic extension of your brain. Once you have your calendar, stock up on different highlighters, sticky notes, and colorful pens.
Long live the desk calendar
Digital devices aren’t going anywhere. Chances are you use some sort of online calendar, and you may want to continue doing so. But don’t ditch your desk calendar just yet. Many people use both a paper planning system and an online calendar because each offers different benefits. Writing down appointments helps you remember them better, gives you an opportunity to step away from screens, lends itself to big-picture planning and organizing, and offers a myriad of personalization options. Moreover, putting pen to paper may help you stay calmer and more focused.
Check-out this article for more information about the benefits of handwriting, Is handwriting dead? Hardly. We need it more than ever.
Do you agree with this article? Paper or electronic what works best for you?
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually. 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 physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you to manage 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
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
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 X2. 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 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
At -A glace contacted me with this infographic. It clearly outlines a few things to do to use your time wisely to help you reach your goals.
Thanks to Jesus a Content Marketing Manager for At-A-Glance , a company that helps individuals and businesses with planning, organizing and learning this information.
I also find productivity increases when the number of distractions decreases. No emails, no social media, no texting, no phone calls, simply no multitasking. Set aside a specific amount of time and work only on one project until it is done or the time is up. It is amazing how much you can get done when your focus is on one task at a time.
Share what you do to make yourself more productive.
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Carolyn Shannon is my guest blogger today. Her business Venting Creatively helps people find creative ways to shine a light on their lives from a different view. She publishes Women of Worth magazine.
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
How much time do you spend surfing the web?
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.
Time flies
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 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 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 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 managing your time effectively contact Mind over Clutter. Julie can work with you in person or virtually to help streamline your processes and routines.
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
People have tried to find electronic solutions for most things that used to be done by paper. However, would a paper To-Do list work better for you than an electronic one? Here is a thought provoking blog post on the topic. Which ever system works best for you, you must check your list. People will make lists but not look at them. Use a system that keeps your to-do list in your mind.
Why the Old-School Paper To-Do List Is Superior as a Productivity Tool (& How to Make It Work for You in Under 5 Minutes)
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
By Harold Taylor
One of my favourite newsletters is by Harold Taylor. He is a Time Management Expert. Sometimes I feel like I am old and live in the past. This article so clearly states my views about technology that I see that my past helps me to manage my future.
An online poll of over 1000 Canadian adults (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?
Research 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 businesses, personal lives, and our nations do not depend on the development of technology, but on our ability to manage the technology we develop.
If you need help with time management routines please contact me. We can discuss different methods of time management during an in-person or virtual appointment.
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
The fatigue factor affects productivity
By Harold Taylor
Working long hours makes you good at one thing – working long hours. It does not increase either your efficiency or effectiveness. Any anticipated increase in personal productivity is usually offset by a lower work pace, additional errors, more frequent self-generated distractions, decreased creativity, and a decline in energy and motivation.
Long hours can reduce productivity
If the increased working hours, reduces the total amount of sleep that one gets, it could also impact their physical and mental health – causing obesity, diabetes, memory impairment, high blood pressure, heart disease, and a weakened immune system.
Sleep deprivation can affect your health
The total output does not vary directly with the amount of time worked. If you cut one-third off your working hours, for instance, you would not cut one-third off your output. In fact, for those people working 12 hours per day, a reduction to eight hours may not result in any perceivable drop in total output. Productivity, (output per hour) would actually increase.
Overwork, lack of sleep and energy drain can cause accidents as well. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US estimates that drowsy drivers cause 100,000 accidents, 71,000 injuries and 1550 fatalities each year.
In January 2011 an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Zurich made a sudden descent, injuring 14 passengers and two crew members when a fatigued pilot mistakenly believed the plane was on a collision course with another aircraft.
In general, people need to shorten their working hours and lengthen their sleeping and resting hours – and this usually entails turning off their electronic devices sooner at night.
How long do you think our work week or each workday should be for the best outcome at work and in our personal life?
Need help planning routines to help shorten your day book a 30 minute chat with me.
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Find the motivation and you can learn it.
How can some people learn to be better housekeepers? The optimal word is learning. Keeping a house organized is a skill that can be learned like any other skill, reading, skiing, or social media. There needs to be a motivation to want to learn this new skill. If you can decide that adding organization to your life will make you feel less anxious about your home, provide you with a system that allows you to get everything done and still have time for yourself or live in a space that you love and enjoy you can take on the task of being less messy. So here are 3 tips:
- Schedule everything. Decide when you will do each of the household tasks you are responsible for eg, laundry, grocery shopping, bill payments, meal preparation, driving children, cleaning, and doing the dishes. Look at your week and add it to your schedule and consider it an appointment with yourself and complete the task.
-
Treat all tasks as an appointment with yourself
- Make the space look better than when you started working in it. The old saying “if you get it out put it away” works. Don’t set it down; put it back, in the desk drawer, in the dishwasher, in the laundry hamper, or in the refrigerator. In addition, put one more thing away too. This helps you to slowly get rid of the “mess”. You are not creating more mess and you are reducing any mess that has accumulated. Your space will continue to look better.
If you take it out, put it away and one other thing as well
- Get help to be successful. You may find you don’t have time to do it all yourself. Delegate it to other family members. At first, it may take longer to get things done as they learn how to do things. Stick with it and soon it will no longer be your responsibility. Hire help for the things that are the most difficult for you to complete. You may want a cleaning service, lawn care service, share carpooling for your children or Professional Organizers. Consider your budget; you may not be able to have them come every week but what if one service came each week?
You may not be able to do it all yourself so get some help
At the end of each month you would have most things under control with the help of your scheduling, putting things away as you use them and involving others in sharing the work. Tell me how you become better at keeping your house in order.
If you need help establishing routines to keep your home organized and clean book a complimentary 30 minute chat with me.
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Harold Taylor is a time management specialist. This article appears in his June 2015 Taylor Time newsletter. Contact him to get on his mailing list and receive other great information on organizing time and space. Harold Taylor Time Consultants Inc | info@taylorintime.com
Slow decision-making wastes time, as do spur-of-the-moment decisions, which usually result in costly and time-
consuming mistakes. But the worst thing you can do is procrastinate in decision-making. Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, once conducted a survey of successful people and found all of them were decisive. Don’t be afraid of being wrong. We learn from our mistakes; but if we do nothing, we neither accomplish anything nor learn anything.
Delay until you have enough information, but don’t wait until you have all the information. If you have all the information, the course of action becomes a foregone conclusion: no real decision is necessary. Have the courage to make decisions with only 70% to 80% of the facts. When you have mulled over the facts and considered, the alternatives, sleep on it. Decisions are usually better after a good night’s sleep.
Spend time in proportion to the importance of the decision. For instance, don’t waste a lot of time discussing the menu for the staff Christmas party. The decision to close down an operation or expand the product line warrants a greater expenditure of that costly commodity called time. Make minor decisions quickly. If the consequence of the decision is not important, it is not worth much of your valuable time.
If the decision is yours alone to make, and you seem to get bogged down in the process and get frustrated by your lack of progress, it’s frequently faster, in the long run, to leave the problem for a short period of time. Work on some unrelated jobs for a few hours or even a few days and then tackle the problem anew. The change in pace will revitalize your thinking. But delay it only once or you will be tempted to procrastinate.
Always make short-term decisions with long-term objectives in mind. Don’t make a band-aid decision that solves the immediate problem, but results in time-consuming problems further down the road.
And above all, don’t waste time on past decisions. Instead of saying “If only I had done such and such,” say instead, “Next time I will ..”
Julie 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.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/53326337@N00/4473565014″>Well, that’s perplexing…</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>(license)</a>
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