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Thanksgiving can be a stressful time for some people. Coordinating schedules, planning menus and preparing the house can make it a busy time.Make your Thanksgiving Day full of giving thanks. Share on X
Here are some tips to make the day full of giving thanks and you less stressed.
Let everyone help by bringing a dish to the meal.
1. Let people help
Ask them to bring some of the food. If you have someone who doesn’t like to cook ask them to arrive early and help greet people at the door. Ask them to bring some fall flowers to help decorate your home.
2. Plan a menu
- record the amount of food you cook.
- record the cooking time for each dish
- reuse the menu, grocery list and cooking schedule for next year
People enjoy having the same menu each year. They know what to expect and it becomes a tradition. It also makes planning the menu easier.
3. Plan to take a walk
Enjoy time together, and be thankful for the beautiful nature around you.
- Between the main course and dessert have your guests go for a walk and enjoy the fresh air and build an appetite for dessert
- While your guests are out, you will have time to clear the leftovers and put them in the refrigerator
4. Be thankful
- let everyone say something they are thankful for, it is amazing how this can create a happy atmosphere at the dinner table
5. Use simple decorations
- when you cover your table with a colourful tablecloth and napkins your home will look festive.
- pick a few leaves, nuts or flowers and place them around your home
Share your best tip for making Thanksgiving celebrations less stressful.
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 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
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
