Archive for Organization
Beauty
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Sunset at Lake Macatawa this weekend
I was immersed in beauty this weekend. Taking photos at Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa with my daughter. Seeing butterflies and sculptures at Frederik Meijer Gardens with my family. Viewing a clear midnight blue sky filled with stars. The presentation of a delicious dessert with caramel and mascarpone was tantalizing..
I wanted to be surrounded by beauty was I got home as well, so I cleared and polished the kitchen table and made the table look lovely.
Housecleaning has never been one of my favorite things. But, what if I thought of home care as creating beauty? What if you framed housekeeping as something other than an irritation? If I’m going to do something regularly, I might as well enjoy it, right?
How will you create beauty today?
Before and After Desk
Posted by: | CommentsI came into my office this morning to work at 8:42 and this is what I found:
Yikes. Apparently I had been just throwing stuff on my desk and not cleaning it up every evening. Some weeks are like that.
But, I really didn’t want to work with that mess. In order to clean up I:
- hung up my headphones
- put yesterday’s water cup into the kitchen
- put my notebooks away
- put my calendar and to do list on their stand
- put away my card making supplies
- hung up my scarf
- shredded my receipts
- put coupons away
- put my books on the bookshelf
- brought my apricots to the kitchen
- put several lipsticks back into the bathroom
- put my ipod in its stand
- and while I don’t have time to go through all my papers right now, I got them all back into the inbox
At 8:57, 15 minutes later I could work here again. It may not be perfect and I still have my wired keyboard while my wireless one is going back to the company. But, I can focus.
So now it looks like this:
What can you do in 15 min?
Getting to the Root of Procrastination
Posted by: | CommentsI have a project I haven’t touched in two weeks. Why? I don’t know. I have forgotten to ask.
One of the main reasons I don’t procrastinate as much as I used to, is that I’ve gotten into the habit of asking why.
We often know we are procrastinating. But, instead of getting to the bottom of it we make excuses like, "Well I’m just a procrastinator" or "I’m just lazy".
Firmly held beliefs about yourself are usually easier to deal with than, "I don’t want to be judged harshly with the finished result, so I’ll do it last minute knowing it wasn’t my best work." Or, "I’m scared I don’t know what I am doing." Or, "I am overwhelmed by the scope of it."
Instead of telling ourselves the truth we lie to ourselves when we only admit we procrastinate.
Until we get to the why, it’s harder to overcome procrastination.
Next time you realize you are procrastinating, ask yourself why?
Then you can talk back to your fear, ask for help, break down the project into smaller pieces or try making the task more fun.
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You can find other ways to deal with Procrastination in my Procrastination eCourse.
Put Down the Phone and Listen
Posted by: | CommentsAre you reading this while talking on the phone or listening to your kids or surfing in another window?
Are you still trying to multi-task?
Multi-tasking is really inefficient – only making us think we are getting more done. But for many of the tasks, they end up taking longer and not done as well.
It takes time to get back into working mode on something.
Say you are writing something, then the email beeps. You hop over to check it out.
Now back to writing. Where were you? Your brain stalls a few minutes getting back into writing mode.
Or you bring your laptop into the meeting. You thought you were listening as you did some research online. But, whoops you missed the last 10 minutes and have no idea what is going on.
Or you are annoying someone you are talking with on the phone because they hear click, click, click of you typing.
Some things are fine multitasking – go ahead what the treadmill while watching TV or reading. (Though they say you walk better without those. But, if it’s the only way to get you on the treadmill, go for it.)
You can fold laundry while watching TV. Or wash dishes while chatting with the kids.
But if you need concentration to do something, it’s not helpful to be doing something else. How many times have you tried to multi-task only to find the work longer or you lost one of the things you were multi-tasking.
Take a look at how you are multi-tasking today and see how it’s working for you. Or not working for you.
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Photo by Carbon NYC
I Wonder as I Wander
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A Winter Hike
I used to wander all the time. Exploring what us kids called Monster Lake. Flowing through the Illinois prairie. Taking long walks along the sidewalk with no destination. Looking for new places. Taking hours at the browsing the shelves. Talking through the woods with no fear of getting lost.
It gave me a chance to think or just be.
I remember a few years ago when I was at a conference, wandering the streets of Chicago and spending hours at the Art Institute.
I rarely wander anymore. At least not alone. We often take the kids for hikes and other exploratory adventures.
But, not by myself. So I lose the inner exploration that happens with outer exploration.
Now it seems there always needs to be some sort of destination. Errands are bundled to save time. I am longing for the freedom to wander.
OK, down on my calendar for Saturday, Wander Time.
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This post was inspired by the GoVenture at I Love Life and was originally a journal piece. Photo by me.
It’s also about time to Plan Valentine’s Day.
Take some wander time at Jen Louden’s Virtual Retreat [Affiliate Link]
When Life Isn’t Simple
Posted by: | CommentsOK, I have to admit, all of the sudden my life is not so simple.
Opportunities came and I took them. So now I am working on a couple speeches for a couple groups, planning a spring retreat, working with the declutter club, building a web site for someone and helping someone launch their book.
And for some reason Feb is the month we have dentist appointments all over the place, I need to go to the DMV, I’m making dinner for 28 robotics teens, and selling flip flops for my son’s all nighter. Someone mentioned planning for their graduation party in June and I started panicking. I’m supposed to start that already?
Then there is my work, family, friends, home and volunteering of normal.
So I have been doing lots of planning and thinking this weekend and came up with some ideas to prevent overwhelm:
- Remember that most of "too busy" is all in my head
- Keep the vision of why I want to do the things I decided to do
- Make easy meals and have my teens cook some
- Use something I did for a teleseminar for the speeches
- Get my haircut the day of the first speech so I don’t have to worry about my hair
- Make sure quiet time and exercise are first things of the day so my self care doesn’t fly out the window
- Take lots of breathing breaks
- Scheduled some fun/downtime
- Make sure I do my weekly and daily planning
- Keep deciding on the next right step to take
- Ask for help
- Let go of perfectionistic ideals
What can you do to prevent overwhelm this coming month?
Photo by Shawn Zlea
The End of the Year Regret Time
Posted by: | CommentsI have to watch out for the New Year. I always want to make elaborate plans for everything I am going to do on top of my regular life.
But, it seems those New Year’s plans don’t always happen. The funny thing is I look over my goals lists from a few years ago and those goals happened. They just took longer than a year. I think many goals that are important do take more than a year.
If we keep making progress towards our dreams and goals, we will eventually hit them. Just like the little engine that could.
A year is not some mystical number that all goals must be reached by. The year mark is just a train stop on your life journey.
We have full lives. Most of us can’t work on our goals 24-7.
So what goals have you made progress on last year? What do you think your life would look like if you continued working on them this year?
Your other choices are beating yourself up about not completing the goal yet, giving up, or making a myriad of excuses why it’s not possible. Yuck!
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Photo by Aussie Gal
If you are looking for a way to break down your goals and plan a simpler year you can check out my Simple Annual Plan
I Don’t Know Where To Start
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I walked into my office, I started to feel crushed in. I knew it was time to do a thorough cleaning of my office. I felt the usual, "Where do I even start?" feeling. So I did what I usually do with clean up projects like this.
I tore up some paper and on each piece I wrote a section of my office to clean. I started at the door and wrote, "Top of file cabinet", "Floor next to file cabinet", "printer stand"
For my desk I broke it down even further – left desk, middle of desk, right desk, CD area, papers in inbox and cubbyhole.
I turned the pieces of paper over, mixed them up and had my daugher which paper was first. My office didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would when I started.
I have found that often times when I don’t know where to start or I have procrastinated on something, it’s because I haven’t broken the project down far enough.
Do you have any projects that need to be broken down?
Pulling It Off
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The commercial came on. A harried, but put together mother holds beautiful cupcakes and walks into a room with excited kids.
"Pam helps you pull it off," says the slogan.
I think this is what a lot of people long for. To look like they have pulled it off. Be harried and hurried, but still manage to get it all done to the praise of adoring fans.
How about we quit trying to look like we are pulling it off?
How about being honest with one another that we don’t have it all together? Wouldn’t we have more time if we took off the masks and pretenses?
As a simplicity coach, I get to hear the behind the scenes. And let me tell you – no one has it all together. Even if they look like it from the outside. In fact perfection outside, is often the sign of inner worlds falling apart trying to keep up. Clients tend to think that no one’s lives are as big of a mess as their life is.
So if you think this – trust me, you aren’t alone.
We still have the idea of the perfect home with Donna Reed, while many of us are working, or pulled in lots of directions, or doing single parenthood. Our lives are different. We can’t have the same expectations of ourselves and others as our grandparents did.
Worse yet I think expectations have gotten worse. We can no longer have simple birthday parties, they have to be extravaganza’s. You can no longer look like you are aging. You need to be uber successful in all areas of your life.
We can learn different techniques to simplify things, but perfection and looking like you are pulling it off is a sad expectation to put on yourself.
Wouldn’t you love to be able to share the real, authentic you with others?
Even in my line of work, things don’t always run smoothly. I have a load of laundry on the living room chair, I’ve only cooked once this week and my desk is trashed again. So I’ll catch up on laundry, do some cooking and clean up my desk this weekend. And I am sure by next Friday something else is going to be off kilter.
With complicated lives it’s almost impossible to have everything going well at once. And that’s ok. Do what you can, but don’t push yourself for show.
Maybe someone out there really has it all together and can share their secret. But, in the meantime I’d love to hear from real, authentic people.
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Photo by Clever Cupcakes
Hurry is a Habit
Posted by: | CommentsI try to stay away from hurry as much as possible. I am completely clumsy. Hairbrushes go flying, dinner gets dropped, and turns in the car get missed. I’ve found it’s best for me to at least pretend there is no reason to hurry.
Some people are more talented then I am though, and they find they can hurry well. Next thing you know everything they do is hurried. Leisure walks are rushed. Getting the kids ready for Grandma’s is just as frantic as getting the kids ready for school. And rarely is anything done one at a time.
Have you ever been in the car silently saying nasty remarks to the slow car ahead of you, only to realize you are actually early?
Or heaven forbid have to wait in a line – any line. The heart rate goes up and you clench your teeth. Do you really want to live this way? Hurrying yourself, your co-workers, your kids, your pets constantly? That can’t be good for anybody.
Take a look at your pace today. Is everything hurried? Does it need to be?
And if it does need to be hurried, is there one thing you can take out of the schedule in the future so you can live your life at a more sane pace?
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Photo Credit: The Sea
