More Time Management Tips

I am looking forward to a relaxing, three day weekend and wish all of you a relaxing one too. Like most families,our weekends are very busy and although we strive to plan out some relaxing, down time sometimes it doesn't happen with sports, parties, activities and homework projects. Last weekend I helped my son focus on planning out his science project so that we all weren't rushing around at the last minute trying to finish it. I've realized that a fifth grader still needs a lot of guidance, support and overseeing to make sure work isn't left to the last minute. My husband and I have gotten burned a few times staying up late the night before something was due helping our son complete a week's worth of work in one night.

Of course, I got a lot of pushback that he could do it himself, don't worry, etc. Of course, Mom persisted and after strongly encouraging him (okay forcing) him to read the project outline, together we came up with goals and a timeline. It didn't take long and at the end of the 30 minutes or so he had a huge smile on his face and he said, "that wasn't so bad. Thanks Mom!"

As I've said before in other posts, a significant piece of time management is planning and also managing the procrastination demon that can influence all of us. We can all relate to how my son thought coming up with a timeline for his project was going to be hard and take too long. In most instances whatever we are dreading, once we start, we realize isn't as bad as we thought and also doesn't take as long as we think.

So I go back to some tried and true time management strategies for success:

Plan out tasks: with a big project, break down the tasks and set deadlines and then figure what needs to be done first to meet your short-term deadlines so that you can meet your overall project deadline.

What is your best time: capitalize on it and do your hardest task then.

Bundle like tasks.

Get to know the 4 Ds: Decide, Delegate, Defer, and Delete. Decide what your priorities are now, delegate if you can, defer what can be done later, and delete what is no longer relevant or a priority.

I do think planning in some relaxing down time during the week can be revitalizing and ultimately help increase productivity. Productivity equates to good time managment.

What are some of your time management strategies?

New Year's Organizing Tip #3 - Managing Time

Okay, I realize it is mid-February now, but we are still in the first quarter of the new year. The number one reason why most people want to get organized is to do more with their 24 hours, and to live better. We all feel pressed for time and really the best, easiest and cheapest way to add more time in our day is to find it through getting organized. Do you know that the average person loses an hour a day looking for things, day dreaming, procrastinating and trying to figure out what they should do? I think this is a conservative estimate and really most of us waste more time daily. How can we stop this continual waste of time? If you do the math, an hour a day adds up to two weeks a year of wasted time.

The following ideas can be applied to both our personal and work lives and these days the lines have blurred. I recommend keeping separate action lists for work and home, but one calendar. Use what makes sense for you, but maintain a calendar and if you have a family make sure that everyone is aware of the entire family schedule for the week.

Here are some ideas to buy back time:
1. Plan out your day – if you don’t plan, you react and you have lost some control to your day. Of course, there are days when it is necessary to react and handle emergencies. However, strive to identify your weekly to dos and then put them as tasks to complete daily. Plan out your week and figure out your best days, based on other appointments you have going on, to complete your priority tasks.

2. Bundle Like Tasks – make calls together; check e-mail at certain time(s)…not all day, etc.

3. Daily Wrap-up – plan to spend 15 minutes wrapping up your work day. Identify any e-mails that need to be answered, last minute calls to be made, neaten up your desk (put things away) and make sure your schedule for the next day is all set and still reflects your priorities.

4. Know your Best Time – identify the time of day when you feel the sharpest – “most on” and that is the time to do your hardest task – the one you tend to put off.

5. Use Productivity Tools – I love to use the timer on my iPhone and I make a game out of it trying to beat the clock. I find using a timer really helps when I have to do something that I find more challenging. Other tools are action lists (electronic or paper), Outlook, productivity apps, and electronic gadgets. Be careful to not let the very gadgets that are suppose to be helpful rob you of time. Know how to use them, use them wisely and don’t let them take over your life – have a shut off time.

6. Templates and Systems – If you find yourself repeating a task regularly (answering similar e-mails, explaining something repeatedly, etc.), then create a shortcut document or template that you can tailor individually. Try to keep your systems as simple as possible so that you can maintain them easily. A system is a place to store like things and then forming a habit to process it and keep it up - i.e. mail – where you are going to put it and when/how it is processed.

7. ORDER – Organize, Routines, Decide, Edit and Readiness (see my blog from Sept 2011).

Please let me know some of your timesaving strategies. I am always looking for good productivity apps to recommend.

New Year's Organizing Tip #2 - Where does it go?

Okay, now that you have purged all of the old paper and clutter from your rooms it is time to organize them. The best way to get organized and stay that way is to zone your rooms and assign a home to every object. Sounds like a lot of work, but it isn’t really. So, for example in the family room, common activities may be playing video games, watching t.v., reading and relaxing. Objects you will need to contain are video games, DVDs, books, remote controls, wraps and throws, etc. Start one room at a time and find a home for everything. Once you have a home for EVERYTHING then literally it should take less than 10 minutes to pick up several rooms in your home.

The harder clutter to contain is paper because it can quickly become overwhelming and look worse than it is if it isn’t processed every day. Know the pattern of the paper in your house and have a home for each category – bills, regular files, resource/archival files, magazines, action, etc. As I wrote about in my first New Year’s post, have a paper command center in the hub of your home to corral everyday paper and then have a resource/archival home…probably a home office where you have a filing cabinet to hold paper you don’t need as often. Check out the photo of my administrative zone that I have organized and ready for the New Year.

My gym has a motivational message on the door entering the gym, “the hardest part is showing up” and I feel this thought can be applied to organizing. Organizing is a process like exercising that you can’t just do once to see results. Once the hard part is done (the zoning and assigning homes), then the regular “showing up” part becomes the daily processing of stuff that can be done almost in auto pilot. I smiled reading the inspirational message leaving the gym yesterday “know you’ll be back tomorrow” and I liked the simple message that progress is in small steps, many times repeated until it becomes like second nature.

New Year's Clutter Buster Tip#1 - Purge the Stuff

As we start a new year, I thought it would be helpful to discuss clutter busting strategies. To that end I’ll focus my January posts on general organizing tips.
My husband and I always get a laugh, as I prepare for our, at least monthly charity donation pick-up, at our house, as he sings the line “….give it away, give it away, give it away now…” from the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Give it Away”. If you only keep items in your space and closets that you love (and that fits) and represents how you live now, you won’t believe how easy it is to put together a few donation bags a month. If you haven’t already, call up your favorite charities, and get on their regular pick-up schedule to give away your gently used items not needed. There is so much that comes in to our homes that needs to be sorted, purged and given away, recycled or thrown out, and a great way to keep the stuff moving and our homes kept up is to schedule charity donations.

It all comes down to downsizing the stuff and in the kitchen and many rooms of the home, much of the stuff tends to be paper oriented. Most of the paper can be recycled or shredded and for the paper that needs to be kept, decide if it belongs in your home office (not as accessible) or your other paper storage place…probably the kitchen (regular access). I highly recommend carving out some space behind a closed kitchen cabinet to hide it. House frequently used home files such as: school, activities, coupons, menus, and other high use categories where you use those most…probably in the kitchen and not a home office. Also stored here can be mail to be saved that requires action such as bills and invitations. Have basic office supplies in your kitchen administrative area and if you have children and they do their homework in the main hub of the home, then make sure they have everything accessible so that they aren’t running off elsewhere getting distracted.

To cut down on paper coming into the home, I am trying out a mail reduction service called Catalog Choice. They offer a range of services with the main goal of keeping the unwanted paper out of your home. I signed up for their mail reduction service whereby I have to tell them what I don’t want to receive and they do the leg work to get me off of the unwanted mail lists. I am also trying out their junk mail envelope service – same idea and possibly a little more straightforward. Some of my clients are trying out the junk mail envelope service, so I’ll keep you posted on how it goes, and I’ll let you know what we think about their services.

Start purging those rooms…especially the paper!

Lice Free and Decorated for the Holidays!

We have had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with a lice infestation in my daughter’s class room at school. This means of course, she has brought them home. To get rid of them is a bear because not only do you have to spend hours cleaning and combing through the infected head to try to find the nits (lice eggs), but you have to clean and remove from the environment everything that mirrors hair (blankets, rugs and of course the plethora of stuffed animals)! So, the good news is we have been lice free for several weeks now (though they are still in her classroom).

With the mild weather we had a few weeks ago it seemed like everyone in our neighborhood decorated for the holidays early. I like decorating our home for Christmas, but because we get a live tree, we can’t decorate too early. My husband took the many holiday bins down from our attic right after Thanksgiving (ugh!), and I have been dealing with the wall of bins for a few weeks now. We got our tree last Saturday and finally put our decorations up!

The other day I was in our basement and I looked out to our screened in porch and saw several large bags and then remembered they were full of stuffed animals from my daughter’s room and the lice saga. I decided I would try to see if she could part with some of them discussing the importance of the gift of charity and the need to think of others. Low and behold my little six year old was up for donating, but also making a little money too. She negotiated $2.00 from me (okay, I got off easy), and gave away two full bags of stuffed animals to the Lupus Society! She still has way too many stuffed animals in her room, but at least she sorted them and the ones she is keeping she treasures for different reasons.

As we enter the season where we will be adding many new things to our homes, it is always helpful to remember to remove 2-3 items for everything added. If you can do a quick sort and purge now in each room in your home it will benefit you in several ways. It’ll help get your home ready for the holidays and company and also prepare space for the new things you may be bringing in or receiving as gifts.

Good luck as you wrap up the year and get ready for the holidays.

Getting Back To Living Life

“Getting back to living life” is the tag line of my physical therapy center, and it is one that I relate to as an organizer. My sessions at the center helped unlock my frozen shoulder condition, and at times my sessions there were uncomfortable and painful. I am in a better position now to get back to my life thanks to the exercise regimen they put together for me. They explained that for my shoulder to continue to improve I need to commit to my 30 minute shoulder exercises daily. Do I skip days here and there? Of course, but for the most part I am committed to it because I want to get back to my life…especially on the tennis court!

Similarly, organizing helps us get back to living life fully, because if we are committed to keeping up our systems and routines, then we aren’t bogged down by our daily clutter, and we aren’t ruled by our stuff. The daily commitment to organizing should at least be 15 or 30 minutes. This does not have to be a painful experience…I promise! This commitment may include an end of day pick up to put things away, determining what our top personal and/or professional actions are for the next day, processing any paper and anything else that helps creates a clean slate for the next day.

Why do this? Organizing helps get us back to living life. If we have a strong, organizing foundation, we can focus on things that are really important to us. No more worries about what we have to do, forgetting things, or feeling unproductive, because each day is a fresh start with a picked up home and work environment. Okay, maybe a little unrealistic, but something to strive for – right?

As we approach Thanksgiving, I know one of the many things I am thankful for is my unlocked frozen shoulder and my semi-organized home that allows me to live my life fully. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Our Gift of Time On Sunday

What did you do with your extra hour gained this past weekend with the end of daylight savings time? Don’t you wish we could have an extra hour each day to tie up loose ends, plan and prioritize or do something for ourselves? Maybe we can mirror the feeling of bliss I know I felt Sunday morning with my extra hour.

How so? Here are some time saving tips that may get you close to an hour.

1. Get organized. See my blog from September 9th on ORDER – organize, routines, delete, edit and readiness. On average we lose an hour a day looking for things or trying to figure out what we need to do. This hour adds up to a staggering 14 days a year of time thrown away!
2. Zone each of your spaces so that it makes sense, there is proper storage, and simplified systems are in place to allow for a 10 minute pick-up at the end of the day.
3. Build in planning time to your day so that you minimize wasted time trying to figure out who to call, what to work on and what to do next. When you plan you will cut down on working reactively and feel more in control of your day.
4. Make checklists your friend. Either have a tangible check list or a mental checklist of what you need to do in the morning, what you need to pack to bring to work or school and also have an end of day wrap-up checklist (scan e-mail, identify top priorities for next day, etc.)
5. Keep your to dos in one place ONLY. If you have too many lists or some are electronic and some on paper, time is wasted and chances for error are higher.
6. Plan menus so that you spend less time grocery shopping and eating out and you and your family will be healthier for it. Also keep a running grocery list of what you need, preferably on your phone, so that you have it readily available.
7. Buy holiday and birthday gifts ahead and keep some in reserve to cut down on last minute shopping runs.
8. Make your car work for you. Have a bin in your trunk that holds anything that needs to be processed in some form so that you have the items when you can conveniently deal with them (i.e., items to be returned, dry cleaning, coupons for shopping, etc.)
9. Set boundaries for yourself for unplugging at night so that you can recharge, regroup and relax so that you are fresh, productive and in control for the next day.
10. If you have kids, make sure they know their routines and family systems for each room. They can pick-up and directly benefit from learning the vital life skill of organization.

Also, don’t forget to change your batteries in your smoke detectors, if you didn’t get a chance to do it this weekend.

Here’s to finding that extra hour each day to use as we’d like!