Procrastination and how to beat it

So what exactly is procrastination and how does it affect us?  Procrastination is the postponement of action.  As a result we get caught taking action at the last possible moment.  This practice leads to tyranny of the urgent instead of what is of long term benefit or importance.  Tasks that should have been fulfilled at an earlier time are addressed at that very moment, pushing other tasks out of the way.

Procrastination can make you scurry around at the last minute.  This frenzy takes time away from other important tasks, activities or even your time to relax. You always lose your buffer when you push things off and a time buffer can be a great way to plan for the unexpected. 

The urge to procrastinate can stem from fear, forgetfulness and disorganization.  First, the fear of doing the task or what the outcome may be (one task has now become five new tasks) can delay the start of a task.  Second, simply forgetting to do it because the task was not recorded can be an indirect problem, or not having what you need when you need it (disorganization) can make the task too hard to start. 

So how do we stop procrastinating?  Do not put tasks off until the last minute.  This creates unnecessary stress.  Always build in a buffer time to complete things or get places.  Break bigger things down into smaller steps if they feel overwhelming and the temptation is there to put stuff off. 

This next practice can be hard especially with small kids or a busy job, but try to limit distractions that can make it easier to procrastinate.  Stay away from the computer, tv and phone if you have something important to work on!  We sometimes enable ourselves in bad habits so we can put things off.  

Finally, set realistic expectations of yourself and what your schedule will allow.  More time to complete a task means you are not pressured by the deadline and can actually plan milestones and steps for completing the tasks in a timely manner.  

How to effectively use your paper planner

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I prefer using an old fashioned paper planner over the new electronic panning tools any day.  The idea of Blackberries, PDAs and smart phones with calendars have never appealed to me.  Paper and pencil in my hand have always won out over the newest technology breakthrough.  My planner never crashes, never takes a few days to become accustomed to and never messes up a sync between itself and the computer. 

The paper planner system only had one flaw.  If you are like me and use a large wall calendar at home in addition to your more portable planner, you run the risk of forgetting to put appointments on the calendar that you made while being out and about.  I feel a large calendar is very important to the overall time management process.  It is essential   to see a whole month at a time to be sure you are pacing yourself properly.  However, how do you overcome the schedule disaster that can occur should you forget to transfer an event from your planner to your home calendar?

I came up with a very simple solution.  Post-it® Half Inch Flags are a great little invention.  The little dispenser can easily be adhered (glued or taped) to the inside cover of your planner.  Every time you make a new entry in your datebook, simply flag the page with the tiny Post-it®.  Now you will never forget to add the date to your wall calendar.  Even if you walk in the door with a kid in each arm and start making dinner, you can pick up your planner two hours later and remember that you have appointments to add to your home calendar.  

What to do when hobbies create clutter

Too many hobbies can lead to a lot of stress producing clutter.  Do you have a wide range of interests?  Chances are that if you do, you often change focus from one to another often and quickly.  While it is good to have variety in our lives, the rapid change and varied hobbies often lead to clutter in our physical environment.  As you take up different projects and acquire materials for them, the old usually get left behind, unfinished and without a home. 

The key to effectively managing your interests and the stuff they produce is to go for quality over quantity.  It is better to have a few hobbies you can manage and keep under control than many that dominate your space.  Additionally, set deadlines for interests that include project outcomes, like a scrapbook, a piece of knitting etc.  The deadline should be realistic.  Some things take months to complete.  If you keep postponing the deadline then you know the project is not important enough to make time for.  Prioritize what is most important to you so you don't end up with many interests and not enough time.   

Being organized makes life so smooth!

Being organized and living your life in an orderly manner really does make your day so much easier!  I am getting married in a few weeks, and my fiance and I were discussing the things we have left to do.  From almost day one of the wedding preparation he and I used a time line and task list to remember everything we had to do.  

Having this tool was so helpful!  With it we were able to work on every task in a timely manner, always seeing where we were at and knowing where we were going.  This whole process has been more relaxing and less stressful then it would have been if we had left everything to the last minute, or didn't have a clear picture of what needed to be done.

This realization today was a nice, personal example of how approaching life in an organized fashion really does make everything easier.  Of course there are going to be little fires to put out...life always has a way of throwing those my way.  But at least I will be prepared!

10 simple ways to organize your office and manage your time

1) Keep a master list of your projects. Draw weekly and daily tasks from this list. 2) To minimize papers on your desk, keep all current projects in folders, either in a filing cabinet or a desk-top file. Pull a file only when you intend to work on it. 3) Designate a time everyday to answer emails and return phone calls. This reduces distractions and the tendency to get caught up in lower priority issues. 4) Do not stuff a filing cabinet drawer. Filling a drawer to its maximum capacity makes the drawer nearly impossible to flip through. 5) Designate a place in your office for all supplies, electronics, multimedia, papers and desktop necessities so your office is divided into zones. 6) Make sure the supplies for the activities you do the most are closet to your desk or at least easily accessible. 7) Retain the information, toss the paper. 8) Utilize the vertical space in your office by using wall pockets, memo boards and shelves. 9) Use drawer dividers and trays to help organize drawer contents. 10) Tidy up your desk at the end of the day. This gives you a fresh start every morning, as well as allowing you to return everything to its proper home.

Starting the New Year right

January is the time to start fresh or upgrade your plan from the previous year. Here are some pointers to keep in mind when you put together a strategy:

1. Look at your priorities. Are you focusing on projects that directly relate to your goals and priorities or are you spending time and energy on unimportant activities?

2. Ask yourself "why". When you reorganize your life and schedule, ask why your current situation isn't working.

3. Tackle one project at a time. In the excitement of starting fresh it is easy to begin several new initiatives at once. Before you tackle each individual project, lay out the exact steps needed to accomplish each goal.

4. Reward your efforts. Change can be hard so acknowledge your forward progress, no matter how small!

The problem with overcommitment

I have been reading ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau. This small portion on over committing our time was quite accurate. We cannot possibly organize our physical space if our time is stretched too thin: 

 Overcommitment is the commitment of your time beyond its availability

"If overcommitment is typical for you, you may even feel a sense of pride, at times, about the number of things you are involved in. As you rush from one activity to the next, you may not be aware of the cost, to yourself and to the people around you, of overcommitment. When you're up against the wall, struggling to meet a deadline, you quickly look for that individual that it is least costly to disappoint. Many people have fallen into a pattern of robbing their personal lives to compensate for professional overcommitment.

 For others... overcommitment results from approval seeking and difficulty in setting limits on the demands made by others. Some individuals live with a frantic seesaw of imbalance, trying to measure on a daily basis whether they should sortchange their jobs to meet their family's needs, or whether to disappoint the family and keep the boss happy. You pay a high cost for overcommitment on a daily basis. 

You pay with a high stress level because you are habitually late. You pay with chronic fatigue becuase your overcommitment doesn't leave time for eight hours of restful sleep. Many people... become almost proud of their ability to meet the crisis (often a crisis of their own creation) and prove the critics wrong. "I told you I'd get it done!" Sometimes adults... become hooked on the excitement of crisis management as a lifestyle. For others, overcommitment only leads to chronic anxiety because their life feels out of control and they can't find a way to keep a balance."

Manage email so it does not manage you

Business and home email communication have a tendency to be overwhelming and disorganized. So many of my clients are frustrated by the volume of email they receive and the difficulty they have finding important messages in a packed inbox. There are a few simple guidelines I use to help others and myself keep emailing clean, organized and simple. 1) Do not sign up for every offer and newsletter available. This is like putting your name on a list for paper junk mail. Only subscribe to a publication if you have time to read it, want to read it and want it taking up space in your inbox. 2) Create folders for subjects or people. This gets the emails you have to keep out of the main inbox and into different sections. You can find the emails quickly and they are available only when you need them. To take things a step further, you can create rules in almost any email program that allow you to automatically route messages to specified folders as they come in. 3) Do not save everything. Just like regular paper, ask yourself, “Do I need it? Want it? Will I truly look at it again? Can I get this information elsewhere or on the internet?” 4) Finally, have specific times (or a single time) of the day when you respond to email. Being aware of what is coming in is ok, but to answer every message as it arrives is time consuming and inefficient. It also can contribute to a general feeling of being overwhelmed and as if you are at the mercy of the newest need.

Top 8 items for a home command center

Top eight items a home command center needs: Family wall calendar- Every family member should have their activities listed on this calendar. Consider using it to plan meals as well. Message board- Have a dry erase board for phone messages and reminders. Magnet board- Sometimes you can find a magnet/dry erase combo. This is great for holding small papers in transition. Key rack- A simple key rack will keep every driver’s car or house key at the ready. Cell phone storage- There are several products out there that provide a home for cell phones and their charging cables. In/Out bin- You should have a spot for all incoming mail and outgoing mail. Go through the mail everyday to keep it from building up. Bill holder- Use a wall pocket or a basket to keep bills that are waiting to be paid so they do not get lost in the mail shuffle. Make sure you mark the due date on the envelope. Personal spots- Use wall pockets or small corkboards for each family member to put reminders, permission slips and school schedules. A great example of these components is the “Daily System” found at PotteryBarn.com.

Be OK with a shift in focus

Ever feel as if your day is spinning out of your control? In spite of well intentioned plans, your prioritized check list and methodical execution, situations arise that demand immediate attention and cannot be put on low priority. Today was one of those days. We know the rule of priorities: save for later what can wait. Focus on the important tasks that take you to your goals. But today the importance of the curve balls could not be ignored. And it was frustrating. As the day dragged on I cast a mournful eye over my list of tasks for the day and despaired over the fact that every issue under the sun seemed to be keeping me from accomplishing what I had set out to do. I could feel myself growing irritated, becoming more and more agitated every time something came up. Then I remembered no one dies if my checklist goes unmarked. Yes it was inconvenient but I needed to adjust my FOCUS. I took a deep breath. I gave myself permission to accept the fact that unplanned issues had to be attended to. I then looked at my list and identified the few tasks that absolutely could not wait until tomorrow and proceeded to work on them. Satisfaction began to re-emerge. When you are occasionally faced with a last minute, unavoidable amendment to your plans, take a deep breath. Focus on the issue at hand and resolve it as quickly as possible but don’t beat yourself up for having to address it. Then take a step back and reorder your priorities for the day and work to complete that pared down list. Suddenly the day doesn’t seem so lost!