Too often when we hit a roadblock in something we are doing, we plow ahead. And end up spinning our wheels. The project or task seems so hard. But, it has to get done so we keep going.

If we step away, even for 5 minutes, we may come back to an easier time. Gives our subsconscious time to play with the problem.

When I am writing and things stop flowing, I put it back it in draft mode. And the next time I write it feels so easy.

Or I’ll start getting frustrated with a technical problem. I’ve learned if I keep at it I will get tight and snippy. And my mind stops looking for solutions. So I walk away. Maybe move onto a different project or I’ll stop for some water. When I come back, often the problem fix is completely obvious.

So this week, when things start to feel like a struggle, step back. See how that works for you.

I’m not really an "As Seen on TV" person, but I couldn’t get my corkboard jewelry board to stay up. So when I saw UGlu at Michael’s I thought I would try it out.

I was able to get my board to stay up quickly and it hasn’t fallen down since.

UGlue has the texture of rubber cement, but it sticks better. Then you are supposed to be able to remove it easily, though I haven’t wanted to remove it from anything. I’ve read some people have no problem getting it off, but some do, depending on the material. (Walls and carpet, not so easy. ) You peel and stick like double sided tape.

It’s also helped me with simple repairs. My belt loop came apart so I UGlued it right back together. Wallpaper falling down in the kitchen – repaired in under 5 minutes. It’s good to stick tiles and this weekend I’ll use it to stick back down laminate tile on our porch.

You can also use it for crafting projects. Much less messy than the hot glue gun. And great for scrapbooking including putting on buttons and metal pieces.

I wouldn’t use it for heavy things which would hang more sturdily with nails.

I thought I’d let you know about a helpful tool I found.

With Jon’s death, I got connected to many of his friends through Facebook. Lots of oversharing by teens going on.

I know the only way my kids could be on facebook is if they friended me.

And it’s not just teens. Many adults are sharing more personal information than they realize.

To check who is seeing what, go to Account –> Privacy settings in Facebook.

The top one is Connecting on Facebook. View your settings and decide what you are comfortable with. Then Preview Profile. That will show you what people that aren’t your friends will see. If they are seeing too much, fix your settings.

The next section is Sharing on Facebook. Make sure yours is Custom. Then go to Customize Settings. Most of mine is friends only. Very important is the People Here Now section which can show friends your location. Same with Friends can check me in places.

I also found this helpful article:

6 Things You Should Never Post to Facebook

I am not a inbox zero proponent. I think if you manage to get to the bottom of your email everyday, you may be spending too much time on email. I usually have about 40 in my inbox at any time. I get to the important ones then once a week I do some catch up.

But, sometimes on really busy weeks, when I’ve been on vacation, or I’ve been really lazy with email I may have more than a couple weeks of email to go through. I find the quickest way to clear out all the emails is to take a week. On Monday I will clear out all the emails from Sunday, then the Sunday before, then the Sunday before, etc. I like to go by week’s because otherwise I am afraid things from earlier week’s will take too long to get to. And it’s fun to find out that most of those older emails can be deleted or archived.

Then Tuesday I will take care of Monday’s and the Monday before and the Monday before.

In one week, the email backlog is gone.

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Photo by iLamont

I love to play around with to do list software. But many are either too complicated or too simple. I have been using Swift To Do List for the past month and it’s actually working for me.

You can put to do’s and memos/notes into the software.

A typical day for me

I click on the Swift To Do list icon which I have coming up automatically when I turn on my computer.

I go to my daily planning memo. In it is a checklist of my daily planning like clear desk, review goals, check calendar. When I’m done planning, it’s time to start my day.

I look at the View – all to do lists and filter for today.

I go to my top priority according to priorities I have set for the todos and work on that one.

After getting the first couple priorities done I look at my daily tasks – check voicemail, check email, one self promotion item,  etc. And work through these. I have them set as recurring items so I don’t have to add them to the list every day.

When I go through email, if a to do comes up instead of just starring the email and forgetting about it, I copy and paste the subject line and add notes if needed to a task in Swift To Do List.

Swift has the ability to have multiple to do list and sublists. So I have lists for MySimplerLife plus sublists of blog, weekly tips, and various projects I am working on. I have a client list. My personal list is subcategorized with relationships, exercise, fun and planning (which has my weekly review and monthly planning memos). My final to do list is Home with sublists of kids, finance, food, and errands.

I can view just one list, or one list and sublists or all the lists. So during work time, I can look at just MySimplerLife instead of everything I need to do that day. Hiding tasks is a great way to stop overwhelm.

Some days with lots of tasks, I open up my today memo and put just 3 tasks into the note at a time. My Today memo is also where I put to dos on the fly or reminders to follow up. Then during my planning time, I can copy and paste these into actual tasks.

Each Task can be added by clicking the plus icon. There are places to add the task name, priority, due date, type (ie project, small task – you can customize), context (ie home, computer, phone – also customizable). You are able to set reminders. Add notes that are like Word documents. Attach files. And add as a recurring task (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly).

I do things simply and only prioritize the very top, important items. Only things with a specific due date has a due date. I rarely use type or context since I work at home and most things can be done any time, any where. I love the notes area. I can copy and paste an entire email so I won’t have to search for it. And I have recurring items for work and home.

If I delegate a task, I put a task into Swift to follow up in however many days I need. This keeps things from falling through the cracks. You can also email tasks from Swift.

I have fun with the to do list icons – over 144 to choose from.

What I love most about Swift is the flexibility. I don’t have to use it a certain way. And I love you can drag and drop all over the program so it’s easy to change tasks around. You can edit or add multiple tasks at once.

Because it is software, it is quicker than the online to do lists which I found to be too slow. I want to be able to quick add a task, not have to wait for internet lag. If you want portability you can put this on a thumb drive and take it with you. You can also print out in a multitude of different ways. If you want online, they do have an online version: http://www.swifttodolist.com/

I archive my tasks weekly. It’s great to see how much I have accomplished during the week. I can recover these tasks any time I want.

This is a Windows only software, sorry Mac users!

I am really excited to find a software that is easy, fun to use, and flexible.

You can get a 30 day free trial if you are interested: http://www.dextronet.com/swift-to-do-list-software

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Full Disclosure – I contacted them after using a trial version about reviewing it and they sent me a full version. This is Not an affiliate link.